


Time's Up

by Avengellie



Series: Time's Up [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Creepy, F/M, Gen, Horror, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-27
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-02-22 19:44:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 23
Words: 29,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2519582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avengellie/pseuds/Avengellie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the middle of the night, and Clint should be sleeping. But he keeps getting woken up by Natasha texting him. But something about her texts sends shivers down his spine. Something isn't right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Clint

_Bzzzzzzz_.

Clint grunted softly and lifted his head slowly, squinting in the darkness. His phone on the nightstand next to him was lit up. Checking the time, he reached over and grabbed it. 2:48. Who was texting him at 2:48 in the morning? ‘ _Someone better be dying_.’ He thought bitterly to himself.

_[2:47 am, Nat] Hey, are you up?_

_‘Tasha. Of course.’_ He sighed softly and rubbed at his eyes with one palm.

_[2:48 am, sent] No. Why are you up?_

Closing his eyes again, he rested the back of his wrist on his forehead, waiting for her reply. Jumping slightly when it did come, he opened his eyes, wincing slightly because of the light.

_[2:50 am, Nat] Can’t sleep… Did I wake you up?_

_[2:50 am, sent] Yeah, and I’m going back to sleep now. ‘Night, Tasha._

He turned the screen off and tossed his phone on the other side of his bed, stretching. Rolling onto his side, he closed his eyes again, quickly falling asleep.

 

_Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz._

Clint blinked a few times, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion before realizing his phone was vibrating. Sighing loudly, he reached across the bed and picked it up. _‘What now, Tasha?’_

_[2:51 am, Nat] Fine, jerk._

_[3:13 am, Nat] I thought you said you were going to bed?_

_[3:14 am, Nat] I may have been in the shower, but I still heard you, idiot._

_[3:14 am, Nat] I’m not coming out there in just a towel. Get out._

Clint just stared at his phone, still half asleep.

_[3:16 am, sent] Oooh, you’re just in a towel? ;)_

_[3:17 am, Nat] How did you even get in?_

He opened his mouth slightly, sitting up slowly.

_[3:18 am, sent] Wait, Nat… I’m lying in my bed…_

_[3:18 am, Nat] Ha ha very funny._

Quickly reaching over to the nightstand, he turned on his lamp. Eyebrows furrowed, he took a picture as proof that he was, in fact, in his bed, nowhere near her apartment building. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and leaned forwards, his elbows resting on his knees.

_[3:20 am, sent] (Attachment) See?_

He waited, staring at his phone, waiting for her reply. Leaning back, his leg started bouncing in anticipation. He glanced at the clock. 3:25. Looking back at his phone, he lit up the screen. Still no response. Something was wrong.

_[3:26 am, sent] Natasha?_

…Nothing.

_[3:28 am, sent] Tasha, please._

_[3:28 am, Nat] I was wrong_

Clint gulped slightly, adjusting his position slightly on his bed. In the middle of typing, he got another message.

_[3:29 am, Nat] I heard it in the kitchen, so I opened the door, ready to kick your ass but I was wrong_

_[3:29 am, Nat] I was so so wrong_

Goosebumps appeared all over his arms. She never, _ever_ admitted she was wrong. At anything.

_[3:30 am, sent] Tasha, what is it??? Who’s there?_

_[3:30 am, Nat] I don’t know if it saw me I closed the door right after I saw it_

Something about the way that she kept saying “it” sent cold shivers down Clint’s spine and he stood up.

_[3:31 am, sent] It? Why do you keep saying it?_

_[3:32 am, Nat] It s not human. it was taller than th e ceiling it had to bend down_

_[3:32 am, Nat] It looked like it had claws instead of hands_

_[3:33 am, Nat] It’s April 1st. If this is some sort of fucking sick joke you and Tony are playing, I’m going to fucking kill you._

_[3:33 am, sent] Tasha, I promise you, it isn’t._

Clint started pacing his bedroom, not taking his eyes off of his phone. Should he call the police? Should he text Tony to make sure he wasn’t pulling any shit? Fingers trembling slightly, he sent Tony a message.

_[3:33 am, sent] Hey. Are you pulling some shit prank on Tasha?_

_[3:34 am, Nat] Bullshit. You guys are assholes. Tell him to cut it out._

_[3:34 am, Tony] No? I’ve been up with Banner all night… Why, what’s up?_

He licked his lips slightly, trying to determine if Tony was lying or not. Tasha was right, it was April 1st, and Tony was an asshole. Especially when it came to pranking or scaring people.

_[3:35 am, sent] Prove it._

He stopped pacing and glanced around the dimly lit room. Tapping his fingers on his phone lightly, he slowly sat back down on his bed, waiting.

_[3:37 am, Tony] (Attachment) Seeeee?_

Clint looked at the picture that Tony sent. Tony was making a face and sure enough, Bruce was smiling next to him, holding up a notebook, the words “Hi, Clint!” written on the page. He stared at the picture, mouth hanging open slightly. Suddenly his phone buzzed again, snapping him out of it.

_[3:38 am, Nat] CLINT THIS ISN’T FUNNY._

_[3:38 am, Nat] TELL HIM TO FUCKING KNOCK IT OFF._

_[3:38 am, sent] Tasha, it isn’t him. I just texted him. He’s been with Bruce all night._

He stared at his phone, anxiously waiting for her to reply. After a few minutes, he started nervously opening and closing the messaging app, his leg bouncing again.

_[3:44 am, sent] Tasha? Seriously, it isn’t Stark. I promise.._

He waited a few minutes more. Nothing.

_[3:49 am, sent] Natasha are you okay???_

_[3:49 am, sent] Please, Nat, what’s going on?_

_[3:51 am, sent] Hello???_

_[3:52 am, sent] If you don’t answer in the next 2 minutes I’m calling the police._

Clint glanced from his phone to the clock. After three minutes, he stood again and dialed 9-1-1. Putting the phone to his ear, he swallowed hard.

“Hello, 9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” a tired voice sounded from his speaker.

“Hi, uh, I think my friend is in trouble,” he started pacing again, forcing his voice to sound calm. “I think someone broke into her apartment.”

“You _think_?” they repeated, sounding less than sure.

“I’m sorry, uh,” he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “She thought me and my friend were pulling a prank on her. But. But we’re not! I- and this isn’t a prank!- I think she could seriously be in trouble, though. She saw someone in her apartment and now she isn’t answering her phone!”

“Alright, sir, please calm down,” the voice said steadily. “We’ll send someone over to make sure she’s okay. Do you know her address?” He stopped abruptly.

“Shit,” he murmured out loud. “Err, sorry! I, uh… _Shit_. Sorry!” he shook his head slightly. “It’s….” he tilted his head back and closed his eyes tightly, trying desperately to remember.

“Sir?”

“She lives in that… Avalon Morningside Park building- uh- on Morningside Drive? I think? Apartment 7B!”

“Alright, thank you. Don’t worry. We’ll send someone down right away. Have a good night, sir.” Clint inhaled sharply, glancing at the phone and hanging up.

_[3:58 am, sent] I called the police, they should be there soon. Natasha, please, are you okay???_

He paced faster, holding his phone tightly in his hand.

_Bzzzzzz._ Nearly dropping his phone, he quickly opened the message.

_[3:58 am, Nat] It keeps calling for me… Whispering my name over and over…_

_[3:59 am, Nat] “Time’s up”_


	2. Tony and Bruce

“What? You c… Tony, that’s cheating!”

“Isn’t.”

“Is.”

“Isn’t. Actually, it’s called _winning_.” Tony smirked, laying on the couch upside-down, his feet hanging over the back. They were playing Mario Kart, and so far, Tony had won every game. Bruce grumbled quietly to himself, furiously pressing buttons on his controller. Crossing his legs, he leaned forwards slightly, eyes narrowing in concentration. The pair were silent for a while, focused on the screen.

“Hello, Brucie!” Tony laughed as he passed him. A second later he passed the finish line, winning yet again and Bruce threw the controller in frustration.

“ _How do you_ do _that?!”_ he demanded, flailing his arms slightly.

“Natural-born talent, I guess,” Tony laughed more and moved his legs so he could sit up-right.

“…Whatever,” Bruce stood up. “I’m getting a snack. Want anything?”

“Mmm, maybe just some lobster. Steak?” Tony smirked and stood to go pick a different game.

“Riiiight,” rolling his eyes, Bruce made for the kitchen, scoffing softly and muttering to himself. “’Natural-born talent,’ my _ass_ …” Tony chuckled softly, plopping down on the floor in front of where the rest of the games were kept.

“Any requests?” he called to Bruce.

“No _racing_!” Bruce replied from in the kitchen. Pursing his lips, Tony’s finger grazed over the tops of the cases as he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he glanced at the clock on the other side of the room. It was after 3:30 in the morning. _‘Who the hell is texting me at 3 am?’_ he thought to himself as he dug his phone out of his pocket.

_[3:33 am, Bird-Brain] Hey. Are you pulling some shit prank on Tasha?_

Tony blinked, eyebrows furrowing more.

“Hey, Bruce? Are we pulling some ‘shit prank’ on Nat that I don’t know about?” Bruce walked in the room, arms full with a few bags of chips and a couple of sodas.

“…No?” he answered, giving Tony a look before sitting back down on the couch. “Not that I know of, anyway.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Tony agreed, his voice quiet.

_[3:34 am, sent] No? I’ve been up with Banner all night… Why, what’s up?_

A grin slowly crept on Tony’s face as he saw the date on his phone.

“Heeeyyy… It’s April first!”

“Oh, no.”

“What do you mean ‘oh, no’?” Tony grinned more, picking out a game and putting it in the console. He scooted backwards towards the couch and climbed up. “Best day of the year, hands down!” he laughed.

Tony picked up his phone again as Bruce opened a bag of chips, the sodas between them on the seat.

_[3:35 am, Bird-Brain] Prove it._

“What the hell?” he just stared at the message on his phone.

“Mmm?” Bruce scooted over to read the message. “Is that Clint?” he rolled his eyes at the name in Tony’s phone.

“Yeah, he doesn’t believe me that we’re not pullin’ shit on Tasha.”

“Why don’t we take a picture?”

“Or we could call.”

“Or just take a _picture_ ,” Bruce insisted and Tony sighed dramatically.

“Alriiiight. We’ll take a picture.” He opened the camera on his phone and aimed it at the two of them. Bruce smiled sweetly and Tony stuck out his tongue as he took the picture. He was about to press send when he stopped. “Wait, he’ll just think that it’s just a picture I had saved on my phone…” Bruce exhaled slowly.

“Wait! I’ve got an idea,” he jumped up and ran back into the kitchen.

“What, run away and assume no responsibility for whether or not Clint believes us?” He heard Bruce rustling through a drawer quietly and sighed. “Come on, my arm’s getting tired!” Tony complained, arm still up to take a picture. Bruce ran back in with an open notebook in his hands and jumped back into his spot on the couch.

“There!” he said proudly, showing Tony the sign he had made. ‘Hi, Clint!’ was written on the open page sloppily in sharpie. He held it up for the camera to see and smiled again.

“Whatever,” Tony sighed again as he made a face and took another picture.

“Nice face,” Bruce snorted and tossed the notebook to the side, picking the open bag of chips up again.

“Isn’t it always?” Tony smirked and sent the picture.

_[3:37 am, sent] (Attatchment) Seeeee?_

“So why does he think you’re pranking Nat?” Bruce asked, his mouth full of chip.

“Beats the hell out of me,” he shrugged. “Maybe ‘cause it’s April 1st and I’m awesome?”

“Riiiiight,” Bruce rolled his eyes, eating another. “Maybe she’s pulling something on him?”

“Hm,” Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “That… Could be true.”

_[3:39 am, sent] Hey Nat! So are you pulling some major shit on bird brain or what’s up?_

“Did Clint reply?” Bruce asked, leaning over to try and see the screen.

“No, I just sent a text to Nat.” he picked his controller back up and gestured towards the screen. “Now are we gonna play? C’mon!” Bruce quickly wiped his hands on his shirt and grabbed his controller.

“Right! Sorry!”

Tony groaned and paused the game.

“Hold on,” Bruce picked up one of the sodas between him and opened the cap.

_[3:44 am, Babe] (Video attachment)_

“Clint?”

“Nat, actually,” Tony frowned slightly. “Video message.”

“Well c’mon, then, let’s see!” Bruce took a drink before quickly capping the bottle and scooting over to see the screen. Tony moved the phone slightly so Bruce could see easier and pressed play. Natasha was sitting against a wall with a towel on her head, one also wrapped around her body. The room was light up brightly but she kept glancing towards something off-screen, her voice never louder than a quiet whisper.

_“Tony, if this is you, I swear to god. I’m going to cut your dick off. I already was talking to Clint and I…”_ she paused, staring at something the boys couldn’t see. There was a low, almost growling whisper, but her lips weren’t moving. _“Natashaaaa…. Natasha, why are you scared? I’m not going to hurt you…”_ Tasha’s eyes were wide, her lips parted. She didn’t move a muscle. Silence. Clearing her throat very softly, she glanced back at the camera for a second, returning her attention to the door. _“Cut it off… And feed it to you. Tony—“_ there was a loud banging noise and Bruce jumped slightly, quickly glancing at Tony then looking back at the phone. Tasha had a hand clamped over her mouth, her eyes clearly starting to water. _“Natasha…”_ she whimpered very softly, hand pressing more against her mouth to try and keep quiet. _“Time’s up!”_ the voice whispered as the video suddenly cut off.


	3. Clint and Steve

Clint had his socks and shoes on in record-time (even if he put them on the wrong feet at first). He jogged out of his bedroom and to the front door of his apartment, tripping over a laundry basket in the middle of the floor. Barely remembering to grab his keys next to the door, his phone still tightly in his hand, he quickly left his apartment and went directly across the hall, fumbling with his keys slightly and unlocking the other door. Walking inside he flipped on the lights and walked through the living room to an open bedroom door.

“Steve!” he practically shouted. “Up! Up up up! We have to go to Tasha’s. _Now_.” Clint turned on the light in the room and walked to the bed where Steve was still sleeping. Exhaling sharply, he narrowed his eyes. Grabbing one of the blankets with both hands, he pulled up in one sharp movement and suddenly Steve found himself face down on the floor next to his bed. Groaning softly, he slowly made to sat up.

“I think I’m going to have to take my key back…” he muttered sleepily. Sniffling softly he looked over at Clint. “Barton, it’s after 4 am… What?”

“Tasha’s in trouble,” he said quickly, tossing a shirt to him, looking for his shoes. Steve instantly sat up straight, waking up quickly.

“Trouble? What kind of trouble?” Quickly standing up, he pulled his shirt on and grabbed some socks, sitting on the bed to put them on.

“I’ll tell you on the way,” Clint answered, sounding extremely distracted. “Ah!” Steve’s shoes suddenly went flying at his head from the closet. Ducking quickly he caught them as they passed him.

“…Right…” He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but if Clint said Tasha was in trouble, Steve wasn’t about to hesitate to help. It seemed serious, anyways. Shoes on, he jumped up off his bed and grabbed his phone, checking the time before looking back up to look at Clint. Blinking in confusion, he glanced around the room, Clint nowhere to be seen. “Clint..?”

“Come _on!_ ” Clint called, already at the front door. Jogging out of his room and out the front door, he glanced at Clint as he locked and closed his door.

“Thor lives right by her, doesn’t he?” he asked, trying to remember. Thor usually was at Clint’s apartment, so they rarely went over to his. “Shouldn’t we let him know something goin’ on? She’s at home, right?” Steve suddenly realized just how little information he actually had. “Right?” Clint nodded once as they started quickly down the stairs, skipping every few.

“She’s there. I think. Or she _was_ ,” he replied quickly. “I didn’t even think to try Thor, actually…” Clint furrowed his eyebrows, immediately frustrated with himself. He took out his phone quickly and dialed Thor’s number, putting his phone to his ear. Steve glanced at him and stayed quiet, moving quickly. After a few moments, Thor finally picked up.

“This is Thor speaking,” he sounded half asleep.

“Thor!” Clint practically shouted through the phone. “Thor, Tasha’s in trouble. Get the hell up and over to her apartment. _Now_ , okay?” Silence. “Thor.” Silence. “ _Thor!_ ” Thor snorted softly as if waking up again.

“Yes?”

“For fucks s… Thor. Tasha. Trouble. Go over there. _Now._ ”

“She’s in trouble?”

“Yes.”

“How do you kno-“

“Just _trust me, damn it, and get the fucking hell over there!_ ”

“Worry not! I’m getting up!” he sounded slightly annoyed both at being woken up and suddenly told what to do.

“Good. Hurry up.” He hung up and quickly put his phone back in his pocket, taking out his car keys. They were in the parking garage next to their apartment building, headed quickly for Clint’s car. _Technically_ it was Tony’s car, but he never used it.

“You know Tony’s going to _kill you_ if you wreck his car, right?” Steve gave Clint a look and held his hand out to him. “Let me drive.” Clint opened his mouth to argue but just sighed and shook his head.

“Fine.” He practically shoved the keys in Steve’s hand as they got to the car. “But if you do that whole ‘Oh, I can’t drive above the speed limit! It’s illegal!’ old-man bullshit, I’m going to punch you in the dick.”

“Noted,” Steve nodded and got in the car, turning on the engine and closing the door again. Clint already had his seatbelt on in the passenger seat. He exhaled slowly, trying to calm down a little more.

“We’re coming, Tasha,” he whispered more to comfort himself than anything.


	4. The Keys

The boys just sat in silence, staring at the screen in front of them.

“What just happened?” Bruce asked finally. Tony opened his mouth to reply, yet nothing came out. “Tony?” he tried again, eyes still glued to the phone.

“Y..eah?” Tony’s voice sounded slightly forced as the screen went dark.

“We should…”

“..Yeah…”

“Keys are…?”

“Cabinet.”  
“The cabinet?”

“Long story.” In perfect synchronization, the pair jumped up and went to find their shoes. Once he had is shoes, Bruce jogged over into the kitchen and started opening the cabinets, looking for Tony’s keys.

“Which one?” he called over his shoulder as Tony walked into the room quickly, zipping up a jacket.

“Shit, uh,” Tony glanced around the kitchen quickly, trying to remember where he had left them. “Thiiiiiiiis…. No… _This one-_ no… _Shit_ …”

“Why you would keep your keys in a kitchen cabinet is _beyond me_ -“

“I told you: long story!”

“Yeah, well it-“

“Got ‘em!” Bruce heard the keys jingling in Tony’s hand and spun around, except Tony hadn’t been anywhere near the cabinets. “They were actually in the freezer.” He grinned sheepishly. Bruce just stared at him.

“You know what? I don’t even want to know. Let’s just go,” he quickly started for the front door, grabbing one of Tony’s jackets and pulling it on. Tony quickly sent a message to Clint.

_[4:03 am, sent] Are you on your way to Nat’s?_

Putting his hands in his pockets, he kept his hand closed around his phone and followed Bruce out the door and down the hall.

“What do you think’s there? I mean, who? I mean…” Bruce blinked, his eyebrows furrowing. “I think I mean who?” he glanced over at Tony. “Tony?”

“Oh, uh,” Tony cleared his throat and looked at Bruce, shrugging. “I don’t know.” He looked worried. Bruce chewed gently on the inside of his cheek, looking forwards again, fingers playing with the keys.

Whipping out his phone, Tony sighed in relief.

“Oh, good,” he breathed, looking at the message from Clint.

_[4:05 am, Bird-Brain] Yeah. Rogers and I are on our way over. What about you?_

_[4:05 am, sent] We’re on our way too._


	5. The Dark

There was an unnatural darkness about the building as Steve pulled the car into the parking lot. Clint was bouncing his leg quickly waiting for him to park. Not a single other car was in sight.

"Hey, Clint…? Maybe we should wait until the police get here…" Steve glanced around as he put the car into park, leaving the engine running.

"No," Clint replied simply, unbuckling his seatbelt. "I'm not going to let Tasha get hurt." He opened the car door and stepped outside. There had been a cool breeze and the low hum of the city at night just a few miles away. But here, all that greeted Clint was stale air and silence. He glanced at his phone as Steve turned off the car and stepped out. 4:09. It had been almost ten minutes and there was still no word from Natasha. Steve shivered and wrapped his arms around himself, trying to stifle a yawn.

Without so much as a glance at Steve, Clint started walking towards the front door, only to stop abruptly in front of it. How were they supposed to get in? They couldn't just have her buzz them in.

"What are you waiting for?" Steve asked almost impatiently, reaching past him and pressing the call button for her apartment.

"Wait, no, Steve, you can't-"

 _Bzzzz_.

The lock on the door clicked and Clint blinked. Cocking an eyebrow, Steve opened the door and gave Clint a look.

"Can't  _what? Go inside?_ "

"Think about it, Steve!" Clint shot back, exasperated. "Who opened the door if Tasha's locked in the bathroom?" Glancing at his phone again, tempted to try texting her.

"It's open. Let's just count our blessings for now, shall we?" Steve rolled his eyes and walked inside, stopping short, still holding the door open for Clint to follow. Clint scoffed and walked inside. Bumping into Steve's shoulder, he looked up from his phone, about to yell at him for being in the way. It was only now that he had noticed that the hallway was completely darkened. Immediately putting away his phone, he glanced towards Steve in the darkness, putting a finger to his lips, hoping that Steve would see. Exhaling slowly and silently, he looked forwards again into the darkness, trying to remember which way Tasha's apartment was.

"Which one is hers?" Steve whispered quietly in the darkness, voice serious now. "Upstairs, right?"

"Mhm… Seventh floor," Clint whispered back to him and slowly started to move his way forwards, knowing that something could be hiding behind any one of the doors, just waiting to pounce. He put the tips of his fingers very gently against one of the walls, being careful not to move anything or make any noise. After a few moments, he found his way to the stairwell and glanced upwards, trying to see if there were any lights shining through, but he could still only see darkness.

"Anything?" Steve asked softly, glancing up through the middle of the stairs.

"No. We're going to have to just deal with the darkness…"

" _Wonderful_." Steve scoffed very quietly and shook his head. "Just what I was hoping for." Clint shushed him and he sighed quietly. "Fine."

They silently started making their way up the stairs, each holding onto a railing just in case.

"Two..."

"...Three..."

"Fouuuuur..." they took turns whispering the floor number to keep track of where they were, being unable to see the numbers over the doors leading into the hallways.

"Five."

"...Ssssssix."

"Seven. This is it," he whispered as he looked for the doorknob. Finding it, he slowly wrapped his fingers around it and opened the heavy door a small crack as quietly as he could. "Still dark," he whispered again, peaking his head through the crack in the door. "Do I still have that flashlight on my keys?" Silence. "Steve?" Clint looked behind him at where Steve had been. Squinting through the darkness, he realized that he couldn't even see his outline anymore. He was alone


	6. The Creature

“ _Shit_ ,” Clint whispered to himself, quickly moving to look down the stairwell. “Steve! _Steve_!” he whispered harshly into the darkness. Silence. He’d have to go back for Steve once he found Tasha. Taking a deep breath, he turned around and walked slowly to the door again. Stopping abruptly, he literally smacked himself in the forehead for being so stupid this entire time. Digging in his pocket, he got out his phone and turned on the flashlight. “Get it together, Barton.”

Hesitantly, he opened the door again, this time shining his light through the opening. As far as he could tell, the hallway looked completely normal- save for the power being off. Taking one last glance behind him, he walked through the door, closing it as quietly as possible behind him. He couldn’t remember which hall to take to get to Tasha’s apartment, so he took a few steps forwards and shined the light on the nearest door to read what it said. ‘ _Custodial Supplies. Well. Damn. Isn’t that just the most useful fucking thing_.’ he thought bitterly to himself, walking further down the hall to another door. The name plate had been actually ripped from the door.

“Oh, for _fucks_ sake,” he accidentally said out loud and immediately froze. The hallway took on an eerie silence as he stood, holding his breath.

 _“Clint Barton,”_ a low voice came from all around him, echoing in his ears, causing him to shudder. Quickly shining the flashlight around, he looked around the still-empty hall.

“Who are you?” he challenged, eyebrows furrowed. _“Where_ are you?” Clint jumped slightly as he heard the sudden sound of nails dragging slowly across a wall.

 _“I’m going to kill you, Clint Barton…_ ” the voice sounded again. _“Just as I disposed of that little brat, Natalia…”_ Clint sucked in his breath and glared, still trying to find where the voice was coming from.

“ _Where is she?!_ ” he yelled, tightening his grip on his phone. “ _What have you done to her?!_ ”  The voice chuckled slowly. “Answer me!” Clint demanded as he spun around to see a creature standing right in front of him, towering over him. It had several arms of varying lengths sticking out at odd angles from both its sides and back. Each of the hands were bony and far too long, the skin on its fingers appearing as though it had been worn away, leaving only the sight of decaying bone. Each one of its ribs were clearly defined under its skin, its legs long and and deformed. Its face was almost translucent, stretched too tightly, showing every detail of its deformed skull. Its eyes were three times the size of any normal human’s and pure black. A crooked grin was plastered on its face, its teeth sharp and pointed, completely covered in blood.

Clint let out a yelp and jumped backwards, dropping his phone on the ground, the flashlight facing down. The creature only chuckled more at Clint’s reaction.

“ _Your time is up, Clint Barton…_ ” it hissed as it licked its lips with a long, forked, black tongue. Clint immediately kicked it back as he took down the hallway away from it, squinting in the darkness, trying to read the names on the doors. “ _You think you can run?_ ” the creature asked, almost sounding amused.

“ _Yup_!” Clint yelled back over his shoulder as he rounded a corner, starting to remember where he was in relation to Tasha’s apartment. The creature merely chuckled darkly again. Quickly skidding to a halt in front of a door, Clint reached up and felt the letter that was on the door. 7B. He’d found her. He sighed shortly in relief and tried the doorknob.

Locked.

Groaning, he glanced down the hall the way he came, expecting to hear the creature- or at least see a faint outline of it- but there was nothing. Quickly he knocked loudly on the door.

“Natasha? Tasha! Can you hear me?” he yelled through the wood before putting his ear against the door, trying to hear. “ _Shit_. Alright, Tash, if you can hear me, I’m about to break open the door! Okay?!” He paused. Still nothing. Glancing down the hall again, he let out a squeak as he saw a large shape at the end of the hall slowly moving towards him.

“ _Cliiiiintttt_ …” the creature teased as it came closer. Without another moment’s hesitation, Clint took a step back and kicked the door hard, causing it to fly open. Sprinting inside, he quickly slammed the door behind him, praying he didn’t break the lock.

“Tasha?” he called into the dark apartment. “Please, Natasha, answer me! Where are you?” He flinched as the creature dragged several pairs of fingers slowly down the door.

“ _You can’t hide from me, Clint Barton…_ ” its voice still echoed in his ears, even through the shut door.

“Fuck off,” he yelled back at it before jogging more into the apartment, trying to find Tasha through the darkness. “C’mon, Tasha… Tasha?” The front doorknob slowly began to move as the creature made to open it. Spinning around, Clint watched the door, his jaw clenched. After a few seconds the handle went still. _Locked_. Clint sighed in relief. “Oh, thank god.” Quickly making his way through the apartment, he found the bathroom Tasha had been texting him from before.

“Nat?” his voice was quieter as he poked his head through the door. There was a wet towel on the floor, the shower door still wide open. Tasha, however, was no where to be seen. “Where _are you_?” Clint asked frustratedly as he made his way back and towards the living room and kitchen. Quickly looking under tables and counters, over couches and chairs he glanced at the closed bedroom door.

 _Thud_.

Clint jumped and looked back over at where the front door was. The creature was trying to bust it down. He didn’t have a lot of time left to find her. If she wasn’t in the bedroom, he’d had to keep looking elsewhere. She had to still be in the building, and he would search all damn night if he had to.

 _Thud_.

Jogging over to the door he tried the handle, but it was locked.

 _Thud_.

“God damn it, Tasha, _you better be in here,_ ” licking his lips he took a few steps back and ran at the door, ramming into it hard with his shoulder, the door frame breaking as it opened. “Tasha..?” he said quickly, walking through the doorway.

 _Thud_.

The front door cracked loudly and went silent.

 

 


	7. The Text

Clint spun around to look towards the kitchen where the front door was but it was still too dark to see anything.  
“Shit,” he whispered as he turned back towards the quiet bedroom. Without thinking, he reached for his phone in his pocket only to remember stupidly dropping it just minutes earlier. “ _Shit!_ ” Clint walked further into the bedroom, almost tripping over some clothes laying on the floor. “Natasha? Are you in here?” he whispered louder.  
Silence.  
Quickly glancing back at the doorway to make sure nothing was there, he went further still into the room.  
 _Bzzzz._  
A phone lit up on the floor near his feet, nearly causing him to jump out of his skin.  
“Ohhhhh that’s happening now alright, okay,” he said aloud quickly before stooping down to grab the phone. It was Natasha’s. Stealing another glance at the door, he looked at the screen, squinting slightly at the sudden brightness.

_[1 incoming text from Barton_ _J]_

His breath caught in his throat and his stomach dropped. Clint immediately entered her password and unlocked it, opening the text.

_[4:23 am, Barton_ _J ] The halls are decorated so beautifully in her blood. Didn’t you notice?_

Clint glanced at the still empty doorway again and looked back at the phone. He could barely type, his fingers trembling uncontrollably.

_[4:24 am, sent] Who the fuck is this!? WHERE IS NATASHA._

“Clint!” Thor suddenly whispered loudly from where he stood, peeking around the doorway. Clint yelped, dropping the phone and stumbling backwards back onto the floor.

“Thor?!” he whispered breathlessly. “Where the _hell_ have you been?! _Do you know where Tasha is_?”

“No,” he shook his head quickly, glancing behind him before entering the room. “I only just got in,” he whispered sheepishly. “I had heard Natasha’s door slam shut from down the hall and came running. It was locked, so I had to kick it in… I _will_ pay for any damage I have done to it, however!” Thor paused, looking around the room for the first time. “She isn’t here. I’ve searched the entire apartment.”

“Yeah, so have I,” Clint grunted softly as he finally got back up, staring at the phone again. There was still no response. “You didn’t, uh, see anything unusual about the hallways when you were coming down here, did you?” If anyone, Thor would have noticed any abnormalities, living just two stories above Tasha.

“Not that I can recall,” he said, still not fully understanding what was happening, and obviously still not fully awake, either. “Was there something different about the halls?”

“I don’t know,” Clint answered simply, quickly jogging past him and through the apartment to the broken door. Stopping short, he stared at the hallway in front of him. His mouth was opened slightly, the phone falling out of his hand onto the floor. Thor rushed to his side and looked both ways down the hall. His eyebrows furrowed again as he looked at Clint.

“What? What is the matter?”

“ _What the hell is going on?_ ” Clint said, mainly to himself, as he stared at the perfectly lit hallway: not one scratch or mark on the walls, not one thing out of the ordinary.

_Bzzzzz **.**_

“Hello?” Tony’s voice sounded from the door buzzer. “Nat? Are you there?”

“That’s a stupid question, Tony. Think for a minute!” Bruce’s said, his voice a little softer than Tony’s. “Move! Let me!” Clint rushed to the door buzzer.

“Tony? Bruce? I’m going to buzz you up! Be _careful_. Something isn’t right here,” Clint said quickly into the mic. He remembered how when he and Steve had arrived: how they had somehow managed to get buzzed in with no one in the—

_Steve_.

“And _keep an eye out for Steve! I lost him somewhere near floor 5 and didn’t have time to look for him!”_ he said loudly into the mic before hitting the button to let them in.

“You _lost_ Steven?” Thor asked, appalled. “How do you _lose Steven?_ ”

“I don’t _know_! One second he was right behind me, the next, I turn around and he’s nowhere to be seen.”

“Clint,” Thor’s tone leveled, his face growing serious. “What is going on?”

Clint jumped slightly, having almost forgotten about the phone. Quickly going and picking it back up again, he unlocked it and opened the new message.

“Clint.”

“Hold on.”

“ _Clint._ ”

“Hold _on_!”

_[4:31 am, Barton_ _J ] Clint?! Clint it’s me. I don’t have a lot of time. I’m still in the complex if you just it sounds like its walking away im going to try and call you quick but I don t have a lot of time_

_Bzzzz. Bzzzz. Incoming call: Barton_ _J_

Clint had only gotten halfway through reading the text when the call waiting screen popped up. Exhaling sharply, he answered and put the phone to his ear quickly.

“Hello?! Tasha?”

“Clint- I don’t- I have to be quick,” Natasha whispered on the other end. Her voice was breathy and hoarse sounding, but still a rush of relief went through Clint.  
She was _alive_.

“ _Where are you?!”_ he asked quickly, one hand on resting on the back of his neck, his elbow pointed in the air.

“I’m still here,” she inhaled sharply and went quiet, covering the mic on the phone.

“Natasha?” he called immediately, forcing himself to stay quiet. “ _Natasha, are you there?”_

“Down,” Tasha said quickly into the phone. “Down. Just keep going down, and don’t stop. You’ll find me. Just. Go. _Down_.”  
“Already on my way,” Clint replied shortly, glancing at Thor before turning into the hallway. “Tash, I’m on my way, okay?”

“ _Shit_ , Clint, don’t use th--” she whispered and the line went dead.

“Tasha?”  he quickened his pace and glanced at the phone. “Damn it! Thor, come on!”

“You still haven’t explained what’s going on!”

“I’ll explain on the way!” Rounding the corner, he immediately ran into Tony, causing the both of them to fall onto the floor.

“Clint!” Bruce quickly helped the two of them to their feet. “Where’s Natasha?”

“Down.”

“Down?” Tony asked skeptically. “We were just ‘down’ and she wasn’t there, Barton.”

“ _What in all the nine realms is going on? Where is Natasha?_ ”

“Down!” Clint repeated, making his way down the hall once more. The other three quickly followed him. “Did you see Steve?”

“No,” Tony’s eyebrows were furrowed. “You said you _lost him_?”

“Yeah, it… Was dark earlier,” Clint answered, sounding a little unsure of himself. It _was_ dark, wasn’t it? And there _were_ scratch marks on the walls, he was sure of it… But then, where was the creature? It had followed him up until Natasha’s door, and then suddenly was gone? He rounded another corner and sped to the door.

Thor quickly jogged in front of Clint and blocked the door.

“Clint,” he bowed his head slightly, his eyes narrowed. “Where is Natasha?”

“ _Get out of the damn way!_ ” Clint roared, trying to move him from the doorway. “Thor, _please_ , just _trust me._ We’re running out of time!"


	8. The Stairs

“Not until you explain what’s going on!” Thor shouted back at Clint, refusing to move from the doorway.

“We don’t _know_ for sure! All we know, is Natasha is in trouble. She just called from my cell and told us to go down. There’s something in the building. I think. It’s…” Clint groaned in frustration, running a hand through his hair and resting it on the back of his neck. He was sweating. “Complicated.”

“So, Nat,” Bruce glanced between Thor and Clint. “She’s in the basement?”

“I think so, yes. She just said ‘go down. Keep going down and don’t stop’ and we’ll find her.” Clint responded quickly before glaring at Thor, his tone dropping. “So _move_ , before I _make you move._ ” Thor continued to glare at Clint for a few moments before turning sharply to let him pass. Rushing past, Clint glanced at Tasha’s phone. 4:40. They had wasted at least five minutes.

"Still don't really understand what the hell is going on," Tony said quietly to Bruce, "but if birdbrain says she's in the basement, I guess we're going to the basement."

"Do we even know what sort of 'trouble' Natasha is in? This 'something' in the building?" Thor asked Tony and Bruce as he followed close behind the pair.

"Well," Bruce furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember details from the video he and Tony had watched. "It's got a really deep voice. And kinda sounded like it had--"

"--Claws. Real sharp claws." Tony grimaced, finishing for Bruce. "But other than that? Not a clue."

Taking the stairs two at a time, Clint didn’t even bother to check if the others were still following behind him. Skidding to a stop as he reached the second floor, Clint stared at the stairs in front of him. The lights downstairs were still all off. Why hadn’t Tony or Bruce asked about the lights when they met up with him and Thor? Clint furrowed his brow and glanced behind him.

“Hey, Bruce, Tony, did you—“ he stopped short, realizing Bruce, Tony and Thor were nowhere to be seen.

“ _Wonderful,_ ” Clint heard a scoff from the stairs behind him and spun around, eyes wide. “Just what I was hoping for.” Squinting, he saw someone turn and start up the stairs. Clint jumped back, his back hitting the wall behind him, almost dropping Tasha’s phone again. “Two…” Within seconds, Steve was standing in front of him, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Clint? Why are we stopping?”

“ _Where were you?!”_ Clint gasped quietly. Steve just looked more confused.

“What are you talking about? I’ve been right next to you this entire time…” He put his hand on Clint’s shoulder to steer him towards the stairs going up to the third floor. “Come on, we still have to get to Nat.” Clint blinked at the stairs he had gone down only moments earlier, finding them now completely darkened.

“ _What the hell is going on_?” he muttered softly to himself before shaking his head and moving back towards where he was going down. “No, Steve, she’s not up there. We have to go _down_.”

“Down? We were just down! And how do you suddenly know where she is?” Steve crossed his arms.

“I was just up there! In her apartment. I lost my phone, found Tasha’s… I had Thor, Tony and Bruce with me and we couldn’t find her. Then Tasha called me from my phone and told us to go down. So now, we’re going down.”

“Clint,” Steve stared at him, his tone careful and level. “You’ve been here with me the entire time.”

“No, I swear to Christ, I was up there with—“

“Then where are they?”

“What?”

“Where are they, Clint? Where’s Thor, Bruce and Tony?”

“They,” Clint exhaled sharply and ran a hand through his hair quickly again. “Fuck, I don’t know, they _were_ right behind me.”

“Clint…”

“Here, look, I’ve even got Tasha’s phone to prove it!” he showed Steve the phone in his hand.

“Clint.” He glanced at the phone and his heart almost stopped. “That’s your phone. Natasha’s is black.”


	9. Steve

Clint stared at the phone in his hand, turning it over in his hands quickly.

“No. _No_ ,” he repeated. “That’s not possible. I dropped my phone upstairs! In the hallway on the 7th floor…” he turned the screen on and looked at the time. _4:08 am_. Stumbling backwards slightly, Clint leaned heavily on the wall behind him, not taking his eyes off the time. “No.” he repeated again, numbly.

“ _What_ isn’t possible?” Steve asked, starting to get worried. “Clint, are you feeling okay? Maybe you should go wait in the car…?” Clint just shook his head, turning the screen on his phone off and back on again. _4:08 am_.

“No. I…” he trailed off, hearing noises coming from upstairs and immediately looked up the stairwell.

“-All I’m saying is, if we _knew_ what it was Clint saw-“

“-He just said it was ‘complicated’-“

“-That isn’t exactly-“

“Stark! Banner!” Clint took off up the stairs and almost ran straight into Tony again as he rounded the corner.

“Woahhh, there, Barton. Wanna watch where you’re going?” Tony quickly stepped back up a few steps and stopped, Bruce a few steps behind him, Thor taking up the rear.

“Oh, thank _god_ I’m not crazy,” Clint sighed in relief, running his fingers through his hair before freezing. “Steve?”

No answer.

“Wait, we found Steve?” Bruce asked quickly, passing Tony on the stairs.

“Steve!” Clint tried again and jogged back down the stairs. Steve stood frozen at the door leading into the hallway, his back turned to Clint and his hand gripping the handle. Clint suddenly felt uneasy as he slowly walked towards Steve. “…Steve? Where are you going..?” Bruce walked onto the landing and peeked over Clint’s shoulder.

“Steve?” Within seconds, Tony and Thor were behind Clint and Bruce, all of their eyes on Steve.

“Oh, uh… I, heh,” Steve slowly turned to face them, a nervous grin plastered over his face. “I was gonna look for... For Natasha _this_ way…”

“Why?” Bruce asked as he took a step forwards next to Clint. “You know her apartment is five floors up.”

“And anyway, we have to go down to the basement,” Tony chimed in, moving out from behind Clint’s other side.

“Well I- she- She could be _anywhere_ , really,” Steve forced a chuckle, his hand still firmly on the door handle.

“You’re acting weird as hell, Rogers,” Tony crossed his arms, one eyebrow cocked. “What’s goin’ on?”

“What aren’t you telling us?” Clint demanded, crossing his own arms. Thor glanced back up the stairs and then at Steve, tall enough to see him clearly over Tony, Clint and Bruce’s heads. Steve merely shook his head.

“You guys can look wherever you want. But I’m going this way,” he insisted and was immediately through the door, slamming it behind him.

“Damn it, what the hell?!” Clint charged forwards. “Steve!” he yelled as he swung open the door, only to stop in his tracks. Running down the hallway with its back to the boys was the creature from upstairs. The only difference now being Steve’s hair falling from its scalp, his skin peeling away from the creature’s back, and his clothes scattered down the hall behind it. The four stood completely motionless in the doorway as they watched the creature round the corner out of sight.

“ _What_ ,” Bruce finally managed after a few moments of silence.

“The _fuck_ ,” Tony added immediately.

“Was _that_?” Bruce finished almost numbly. Tony’s jaw was hanging open slightly as he continued to stare at where the creature had disappeared to.

“ _’Complicated’_ ,” Clint repeated from earlier. “Make a little more sense now?” his voice was slightly high.

“Uh huh!” Bruce squeaked out before slowly exhaling and backing away from the doorway, wringing his wrists nervously. “Wait. No!”

“We should go find Natasha,” Thor suggested, finally taking his eyes off the clothes and skin on the floor.

“Yep!” Clint practically slammed the door shut again and took down the stairs again.


	10. The Second Floor

“So I’m going to take a wild guess and say that wasn't Steve?” Tony questioned as they took the stairs two at a time.

“No,” Clint glanced back at him for a second. “At least I hope not. That thing though - in the hall - that’s what I was talking about when I said there was something in the building.”

“But how did it look like Steve?”

“How did it sound like him?”

“Where’s the real Steve?”

“Your guess is as good as mine is, guys.” Clint grumbled, trying not to get irritated. As he got to the bottom of the steps on the ground floor, he went and quickly opened the door, immediately freezing in his place.

“Why are we stopping?” Tony asked, stopping quickly so he didn't walk into Clint. “Hey! What’s the hold up?” Tony looked from Clint to the hall, his jaw immediately dropping open slightly.

“What’s-” Bruce stopped as he stared at the hallway in front of them.

“Is there a problem?” Thor asked, annoyed. “I thought we were in a hurry?”

“But we went down,” Clint finally said, numbly. “We went down.” In the hall was the same discarded clothes mixed with shredded skin and hair as before. Clint shut the door and opened it again, as if the scene in front of them would change, but it still remained the same. “There’s no way.” He took off running down the stairs again, but as he got to the floor below, he found himself standing behind the boys again. “What?!” he yelled and the other three spun around, all with different levels of shock on their faces.

“Didn't you just…?”

“...But you..” Clint took off up the stairs instead, hoping to end up on the third floor. Yet when he reached the next floor, he found himself standing in front of his friends yet again.

“This isn't right!” he ran up the stairs again, only to come to the second floor a third time. “Okay… Okay… So we’re trapped on this floor,” Clint said to himself, starting to pace in circles on the landing.

“With a disgusting-face-stealing-monster,” Tony added miserably.

“And the knowledge that it’s probably killed two of our friends,” Bruce chimed in.

“Can you not?” Clint snapped, glaring at the two of them. “We have to figure this out. Thor. Do you have any idea w…” his voice trailed off as he glanced around the small landing, seeing only Bruce and Tony. “Th...or?” Bruce blinked and spun around, his eyes widening as he realized the god was missing. He grabbed Tony’s arm and yanked him over to him, wrapping his own arms around Tony’s as if to keep him from disappearing, too.

“Okay,” Tony’s voice was slightly forced as he glanced around, his gaze finally falling on Clint. “Now we’re down three, and we can’t go up or down. What do we do?” Clint clenched his jaw as he watched the pair. Knowing they were just as clueless as him was almost comforting, but it didn't exactly help them.

“I guess we…” He exhaled harshly and ran his fingers through his hair, focusing on the door behind the boys. “We go down the hall.”

 

 


	11. A Moment to Breathe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, because I haven't touched this story in like two months, and I felt the past few chapters have been a taaaaad confusing, this one is just one big recap. My apologies to everyone who hates that kind of thing, but I just felt it had to be done! Now with this, I should be un-stuck as to where I'm headed with this. Officially. I've probably said that before, but it's for real this time. -E

"Wait, wait, wait. Can we  _please_  try and put together what's going on first?" Bruce pleaded, looking between the two of them. "From the beginning. What's happened?"

"Nat was texting me around 3."

"While we were up playing Mario Kart- totally uninvolved," Tony pointed slightly, his eyebrows raised as if they were suspects of some crime. Clint shifted his weight and started tapping his foot quickly, his mind trying to put together the events of the night.

"..Right. Anyway, she texted me around 3 and said something like 'Why are you in my apartment I thought you said you were in bed?' And then she was like 'Is Tony pulling some shit?' so I texted you-"

"Right, right, and we took the picture," Tony added again quickly, Bruce chewing on his lip, glancing up and down the stairwell every so often.

"And then she stopped answering forever. So then around- shit, 4? - after texting her and calling her a million times she finally texts back, like, 'It keeps calling for me' and then 'time's up'."

"Around 4 she sent us a video!" Bruce finally chimed back in. Clint immediately rounded on him, glaring.

" _And you didn't think to mention that before?!"_  Quickly shaking his head, Clint ran a hand through his hair, turning his back to them. "What was it?" He asked, quickly facing them again.

"She was sitting in a towel on the floor - probably in the bathroom - and she was threatening to cut my dick off and feed it to me when another voice said her…" his voice trailed off for a moment before picking up again, putting their stories together. "Said her name! - And  _then it said_ 'time's up'! - and the video cut off." Clint nodded a few times, glancing around, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Okay, so the stories fit so far," Bruce glanced between the two of them, pausing. "We basically went straight out the door after watching the video."

"Which is probably around the time I was waking Steve up," Clint glanced around, thinking. "And I called Thor while we were running to the car. Whole lot of good  _that_  did," he added bitterly.

" _Anyway_ ," Bruce's voice was tense, his eyebrows raised at Clint expectantly. "You obviously got here first, so keep going."

"Alright, we got here, the door's already open.  _All_  the lights are off."

"That's-"

"-Weird, right? We thought so, too. So we head upstairs. I think it was the… 6th floor? Where Steve just vanishes. No where to be found," he continued, leaving out how he didn't exactly  _look_  for Steve, anyways. "So I keep going, figuring, Steve can obviously handle himself. Going down the hall to Nat's apartment, this  _thing_  suddenly says my name. It's saying how it's going to 'kill me just like it killed her' blah blah blah. Then it's suddenly  _right in front of me_. It's fuckin'  _huge as hell_ , has like 500 arms, it's skin looks like it's stretched back or something… It's  _eyes_ , holy  _shit_ , it's eyes were gigantic and completely black, it's got razor sharp teeth- a  _huge_ mouth. Blood  _everywhere_." Tony and Bruce simply stared forwards at Clint, eyes wide, as they listened to his description. Sure, they had seen it run off, but it was simply that. They had seen only the back of it.

" _So_ , naturally, I got the hell out of there and busted into Nat's apartment. Looked through every room. Didn't find her. I get to the bedroom and there's this loud banging on the front door. It suddenly stops and I find Nat's phone on her floor."

"Wait," Tony said suddenly, looking confused. "So she doesn't have her phone…? How did she call you?" Clint just waved him off.

"She has a new text message. From  _me_. Kinda. I maaaay have accidentally dropped my phone in the hallway on the way to her apartment. So this text says something like 'the halls are decorated in her blood' or some bullshit, and I just keep going 'who is this' 'where is she' blah blah blah. Then suddenly Thor shows up, says he looked through the whole place, too. Doesn't know where she is. He  _also_  says he didn't see any 'blood decorating the halls', so I'm still not sure what's up with  _that_... "

"Yeah, I didn't see anything," Tony furrowed his eyebrows as he glanced over at Bruce. He looked just as confused as Tony and shrugged to the both of them.

"Anyway, that's abouuuut when you guys showed up. While you guys were coming up, I got a text from Nat  _from my phone_  saying she was still in the building, she didn't have a lot of time, and that she was going to call quick." he paused to take a deep breath before continuing quickly. "On the phone she said to go down. Just go down. Keep going down.  _So_ , I'm  _assuming_ , she's in the basement. Right before the call ended she said 'Shit, don't use the'," he cut himself off as if to mimic the call ending.

"...Don't use the  _what_?" Tony asked.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say the  _stairs_. Because  _clearly_ ," Clint gestured around. "This is a load of bullshit." He shook his head and exhaled slowly. "Aaaaaand then I ran into you two, we went down the stairs, I bumped into Steve. Except… Steve was acting like we had just gotten here. Like  _nothing else_  after getting onto the stairs had happened. All the lights were back off and he kept saying we had to go back up. That I hadn't been upstairs at all, and I've been with him the entire time.  _You guys_  were no where to be seen to back me up, so I go 'Look, I've got Nat's phone to prove it' and suddenly I've got  _my phone_  again and the time said it was  _just_  after 4, even though I  _knew_  it wasn't."

"But… You  _do_  have Nat's phone, and we weren't here until  _long_  after 4…" Bruce replied, his voice quiet.

" _Exactly_. But then I heard you guys coming down the stairs and Steve's suddenly trying to go through the door," Clint nodded at the door behind Bruce and Tony.

"And then he had this creepy grin and said he was going to look for Natasha on  _this floor_ ," Tony remembered, glancing behind himself to look at the door.

"Then he ran through the door and when we opened it again-"

"It was the monster," Clint added quickly. "The monster was basically  _wearing Steve's skin_ …" Bruce looked as if he was going to be sick and Tony grimaced. "So as it was running off - cause it knew it was caught - it was shedding off Steve," he finished conclusively.

"Then the stairs broke,"

"Thor went missing,"

"And now we're here," Clint nodded, looking between them. Counting on his fingers, he listed off names. "Tasha is missing. Probably in the basement. Steve is missing. Possibly-  _probably_  dead, considering his skin is all over the floor in the hallway.  _Thor_ is missing…" his brow furrowed again in confusion. "Nnnnno...idea where he is, actually."

"Maybe he went down the hall after the monster like he wanted to before?"  
"That would make sense…"

"Okay!" Clint sighed big and raised his eyebrows. "Are we good? Can we go?"

"Down the hallway?" Clint nodded and Bruce hummed nervously. Tony put his arm draped across Bruce's shoulders and steered him around to face the door.

"Let's do this."


	12. "We're Dinner!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't completely forget to post this chapter here a few weeks ago nope.

Clint made his way in front of Tony and Bruce and opened the door. The scent of already decaying flesh made him wrinkle his nose in disgust before bringing the top of his shirt over the lower half of his face as a small shield from the scent. He leaned a shoulder on the door for Tony and Bruce to walk through.

“Oh, god, _Steve_ ,” Bruce groaned as he attempted to mask his face with his hands, walking past Clint. “it smells like you haven’t showered in… Ever!”

“That’s what rotting flesh’ll do to ‘ya,” Tony offered sarcastically as he walked to Bruce. “Make ‘ya stink like _never before_.” He had his nose and mouth in the crook of his arm and just stood staring at the mess scattered all down the hall.

“Maybe we should get him some deodorant,” Bruce joked quietly, looking anywhere but ‘Steve’. Clint just gave him a look, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah, _that_ was a little too soon, Brucie,” Tony clasped Bruce’s shoulder with his free hand and walked past him further down the hall.

“Okay,” Clint walked to meet them, glancing back at the door as it closed. “So we know for _sure_ the… Whatever… Went _that_ way,” he said, pointing slightly. There were two other directions they could take on either side of them. “And _hopefully_ Thor went that way, too…”

“We are _not_ splitting up,” Bruce said defiantly, looking between the two of them.

“No, no, that’d be stupid,” Clint agreed, nodding once. “No, we just have to pick a direction and figure out how to keep going down.”

“I think we should stay away from wherever the thing went,” Bruce glanced down the hall nervously.

“ _But_ ,” Tony countered, looking at Bruce. “if you think about it, it’d make the most sense to go that way. _Think about it_. We’re trying to get to Tasha. The thing’s probably trying to get to Tasha. If we _follow it_ , it’ll lead us straight to h--” He was cut off by Bruce putting his hand over his mouth, shushing him.

“Stop making sense. Just stop it,” Bruce demanded.

“He’s right, though, Bruce,” Clint added, nodding once as he glanced down the hall. “Come on.”

As Clint made his way down the hall, taking care not to step on any shreds of skin, or puddles of blood, he noticed the lights gradually getting dimmer. Stopping, he turned around to look at Bruce and Tony. The pair hadn’t moved.

“D’you guys have any idea what’s up with the lights?” Tony looked at him, confused.

“...What?”

“The lights,” Clint tried again, glancing up and pointing at them with one finger. He looked behind him once before looking at the boys again. “They’re dimmer.” Tony and Bruce slowly glanced at each other before looking back at Clint.

“Are you… _sure_?” Bruce asked carefully. Clint just exhaled sharply, clearly annoyed that everyone was continually questioning his sanity.

“Hold on. Maybe it…” he trailed off, walking towards them again to see if the lights lit up more, as if it was just his position in the hallway. He furrowed his brow as the lights stayed dim. “They’re definitely dimmer.” Clint looked at Bruce and Tony, nodding once.

“Okay,” Tony glanced between them and started slowly walking down the hall. “Anyway, no, we don’t know what’s up with the…” his voice trailed off as he came to a stop, blinking a few times. Squinting his eyes up at the lights, he span around to look at Clint and Bruce. “He’s right! The lights are dimmer over here.”

“Just over there?” Bruce still looked unconvinced.

“Here, look.” Clint grabbed Bruce’s arm and dragged him down the hall towards Tony.

“Okay, okay. That’s weird,” Bruce agreed, glancing back where they had just came.

“Get’s weirder,” Clint took Tony’s arm with his free hand and brought them both back to the door to the stairs.

“Why didn’t it….”

“Shouldn’t it have gotten lighter again?”  
“That’s what I thought!”

“Alright, let’s just find the others and get the hell out of this place.” Tony concluded, grabbing the other two and spinning them around. A voice suddenly rang through the hallway, dark and deep.

“ _There is no escape._ ” The boys froze.

“I told you we shouldn’t go this way,” Bruce whispered, “I _told you_ we shouldn’t go this way! We made it mad!”

“No, _he_ made it mad!” Clint whispered harshly back, giving Tony a shove forwards.

“What?! I did not!” Tony practically leapt backwards and glared at Clint. “ _All I said_ is that we should hurry up and get _out_ of this place, I didn’t--”

“And _that_ made it mad! It doesn’t want us to leave, we’re… We’re… Dinner!” Bruce exclaimed, flailing his arms slightly.

“Wait, wouldn’t it technically be _breakfast_?” Clint pointed out, looking at Bruce, who simply waved his hand dismissively.

“Well, it’s hard to say for sure, he could be saving us as leftovers.”

“Ohhh, right, that’s true,” Clint nodded thoughtfully a few times. “I wonder how long we’d be good for? I mean, is he putting us in a fridge? How long does human meat stay good for?”

“Apparently not long,” Bruce gestured to the skin and blood still on the floor in the hallway. “Just look at how bad Steve smells…”

“Will you two _listen to yourselves_?!” Tony exclaimed, his eyes wide. “What is _wrong with you two_?!”

“Hey! I’m just saying,” Bruce raised his hands up defensively. “It’s not going to want us to leave, so you saying ‘oh, we have to leave soon!’ is _obviously_ going to make it upset.” He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows at Tony, who just stared on in disbelief.

“God, you’ve gone _insane_ , haven’t you? You’ve finally lost your goddamn mind,” he looked between the two of them. “Who _cares_ what _it_ wants?! Let’s just _hurry_!” Tony grabbed both of their arms again and yanked hard as he started down the hallway again, muttering under his breath. “‘I _s he putting us in a fridge’ for god’s sake what does it matter you won’t know the difference anyway you won’t be alive... ‘Oh no we’ll be breakfast,’ no you won’t you’ll be fuckin’_ dead _, for the love of…_ ”

“Muttering won’t accomplish anything, Stark,” Clint smirked slightly, taking the lead of the group again as they rounded a corner. The three stopped short, staring at the hallway before them. “Ah.”

“So you mentioned all the lights being off earlier?” Bruce asked meekly, looking at the completely darkened hallway in front of them.

“...Yup.”

“Does everyone have their phones?” Tony asked next, putting his hand in his pocket to grab his phone.

“Mhmm.”  
“Well, I’ve got _Tasha’s_.” One by one, the three took out their phones and turned the flashlights on. Tony took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Into the dark, then.”

 

 


	13. The Ground Floor

The trio made their way slowly and cautiously down the dark hallway. Clint in the middle, with Tony and Bruce on either side of him. They kept their eyes peeled for any miniscule sign of movement, listening for the smallest sound. At one point, Bruce even flinched when Tony sniffled a little too loudly. Clint shushed both of them, waving his hand dismissively for them to be quiet as they got to another corner. Very slowly, Clint tip-toed over to the wall and peeked his head around the corner, shining his flashlight down the new hallway. Eyes darting in every small nook and cranny of the empty hallway he could see, he exhaled slowly and motioned for the others to follow him.

“S’all clear,” he glanced back at them.

“So, how exactly is this supposed to help us get to Nat?” Tony realized finally as he and Bruce followed Clint down the hall. “If we just walk in circles on one floor, we’re obviously not getting any closer to her.”

“Clearly the elevator is a bad idea,” Clint nodded.

“We could try the other set of stairs?” Bruce asked, shrugging slightly. Clint chewed on his lip.

“I _guess_ … I mean, we haven’t exactly had the best luck with stairs tonight. But we can still _try_ ,” he swallowed hard, not wanting to lose Tony and Bruce, too. “As long as we stick together. Actually stick together. Like. Holding hands so we don’t get separated in _some_ freak incident together.”

“Agreed,” Bruce nodded quickly, glancing at Clint. “Tony?”

“It’s ridiculous that we even have to be afraid about it, but…”

“It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“Exactly.”  
“Okay,” Clint glanced behind them in case they missed the stairs. “Does… Anyone know where the other stairs are?”

“We didn’t pass them already, did we?”

“I don’t _think_ so,” Tony also glanced behind them. “I think that’d be too close to the stairs we were on before. They’d be the exact opposite end of the building, right?”

“So probably down the next hall?”  
“Probably,” Clint shrugged. Repeating what he did to look around the new corner in the hallway, Clint quickly went around the corner into a new hallway. “C’mon! Stairs are right here!” Bruce and Tony quickly followed in suit and the three stopped in front of the doorway leading to the stairwell.

“Alright. Tony. Clint. Take my hand.” Bruce stuffed his phone in his pocket and held out his hands for the two of them as he stared unblinking at the door.

“Brucie, you’re so _romantic_ ,” Tony snorted as he took Bruce’s hand, causing Bruce to roll his eyes. Clint slowly opened the door and took Bruce’s hand, leading them into the dark stairwell. Shining his flashlight up the one set of stairs, he looked for anything out of the ordinary. Tony made sure the door didn’t slam behind him and pointed his flashlight down the other set of stairs. “Looks all clear. What about up?”

“All clear,” Clint nodded, also pointing his flashlight down the stairs. “Alright… Fingers crossed. Whatever happens, _don’t let go_ ,” he glanced at the boys as they slowly made their way down the stairs shoulder to shoulder. As they turned and went down the second flight of stairs, Bruce quickly looked behind them, as if expecting to see the creature standing there.

“ _Holy shit, it worked_ ,” Tony breathed as they got to the bottom of the stairs, shining his flashlight on a big “G” above the door. Clint stopped, forcing the others to stop with him. “What? It worked! We’re on the ground floor!” Tony gave him a look.

“There’s no more stairs,” Clint was just staring at the wall where another set of stairs would have gone down.

“That’s… Because we’re on the _ground floor_.”

“The _basement. Tasha said she was in the basement_ ,” Clint reminded them, shooting a glare at Tony. “ _How are we supposed to get to the basement if there are no more stairs_?”

“They could be in a different location?” Bruce shrugged slightly, trying to think. “Some buildings do that. They make the basement stairs in a different spot. Kind of like a ‘management only’ thing.”

“Great,” Tony shook his head, glancing back up the stairs. “Great! Now, not only do we have to get down to the basement to god knows what will be waiting for us… I mean, really! Do we even have a plan for what we’ll do when we get down there? What if the thing is down there waiting for us? We’d be dead in seconds! We’ve nothing to defend ourselves. Nothing to k-- _can we even kill it_? Can it _die_? We don’t even know! We’re completely uninformed! But now! On top of that! We have to _find the god damned basement_!” Tony flailed an arm in frustration.

“Alright, alright! Just calm down!” Clint glanced around, trying to keep him quiet.

“We can think of a plan while looking for the basement, okay?” Bruce assured him.

“God,” Tony laughed bitterly, shaking his head. “We’re going to die. We are all. Going to die. What time is it. I have a phone in my hand. Why am I asking.” He scoffed softly at himself, turning the screen of his phone on. “Well! Good news, I think. It’s 5:42. Sun should be coming up eventually. Then maybe we’ll be able to _see something_.”

“Okay, let’s just.” Clint sighed, shaking his head, angry that it had been an _hour_ since he found Natasha’s phone in her apartment. “Let’s just come up with a plan. Find this fucking basement. Find Natasha. Find Steve--”

“Hopefully.”

“--Find Thor--”

“Again, hopefully.”

“--And get the _fuck out of this god damned building_. Call the cops. Call the FBI. Swat teams. Army. National Guard. Whatever the fuck. To kill that fucking. Whatever it is. And--” Clint stopped short, suddenly remembering earlier. “Wait. I _did_ call the police. _Hours ago_. When Tasha first stopped replying.” he looked between Tony and Bruce, eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the obvious lack of officers in the building.

“D’you… Think they ever showed up?”

“I have _no ide_ a,” he responded gravely, turning his head to look at the exit of the stairwell. “But there’s one way to find out.”

 


	14. Chapter 14

The stairs lead them to the back of the building, and Clint was desperately hoping that the first set of stairs at the entrance would go downstairs to the basement.

"Okay," Clint whispered as the door to the stairwell closed behind them. "I think, I mean because clearly this floor isn't fucked up and is probably safer… That it might be a good idea to split up."

" _Since when is splitting up a good idea?! Didn't we go over this?!"_ Bruce's eyes were wide as he looked between Tony and Clint. Clint paused a moment, thinking.

"Here," he unlocked Tasha's phone and typed in a number before hitting call and holding it up to his ear. Almost immediately, Bruce's phone started buzzing in his hand, causing him to flinch.

"What purpose does this serve?!" He demanded as he answered the call, holding the phone to his ear. Bringing Tasha's phone back down to look at it, Clint quickly made it a three-way call between himself, Bruce and Tony.

"We won't be too far. If we stay on the phone the entire time, we'll be able to be split up and still know what's going on with the other two. Understand?"

"This is the stupidest idea ever," Tony rolled his eyes, his phone to his ear anyway.

"We'll cover more ground this way and you know it," Clint argued, his phone to his ear again. "Just stay on the phone. If you see something, tell us and we'll come running. Okay?"

"I don't like this," Bruce whined softly.

"I'll go this way," Clint pointed down one of the three halls. "Tony, you go that way. Bruce, you go the other way."

"I don't like this at  _all_ ," Bruce whined again, staring down the hallway Clint had given to him.

"We'll… Be fine, Bruce," Tony sighed heavily, knowing that splitting up  _would_  speed things up, wanting only to get out as quickly as possible.

" _Also!_ " Clint glanced between the other two. "Any door that leads to outside: check to see if it opens. I'm sure they will, but… I don't know, this place is clearly fucked up, and I'm suspicious. If we know they don't open  _now_ , that'll at least give us a little time to figure out how to get out." Taking a few steps back, Clint glanced behind him at his hallway. "Alright, are we good?"

"Go team," Tony replied less than enthusiastically, turning to walk down the hallway Clint assigned him.

"I still don't like this," Bruce hesitated before turning his body to face his hall.

"Just stay on the phone, and you'll be fine," Clint assured him, turning around and starting down his hall.

"Is it too late to say I have to pee?"

"Bruce."

"Just trying to defuse the tension."

The next few minutes that followed were spent stumbling down the dark hallways, each with one hand against the wall for guidance and balance.

"I feel… Like I'm blind," Tony noted quietly as he almost walked straight into a wall, not realizing he had reached a corner. "...Who put this wall here."

"Probably the architects who made the place."

"Clint, I'm pretty sure it would have been the construction workers, not the archi-"

"Shut your whore mouth, Bruce."

"-tects okay." Bruce pressed his lips together, walking in silence for a few moments before hearing a whisper.

" _Bruce_ …"

"...Yeah?" His eyebrows furrowed slightly, trying to figure out which of the boys had said his name.

"What?" Clint glanced at the screen of his phone for a second to check the time before putting it back to his ear.

"Why'd you say my name?"

"I didn't say your name…?"

"Okay…  _Tony_ , why did  _you_  say my name? What did you want?" Bruce asked, shaking his head slightly.

"I didn't say your name either, Brucie," Tony paused, feeling the room number on the front of one of the doors.

"Very funny, guys," Bruce said bitterly.

" _Bruce,_ " the voice whispered again, this time closer to Bruce. Flinching slightly, Bruce stopped walking- still convinced it was one of the two- trying to figure out which it was. " _Bruce!"_  The whisper came louder,

"Wait, no, I heard that, too…" Tony said slowly, his eyebrows furrowing as he stopped. "Clint, you swear it isn't you?"

"Why would I be trying to spook Bruce?"

" _Bruce!"_

"Wait," Bruce tightly closed his eyes, trying to place the voice. "It sounds… It sounds like  _Thor!"_ He said excitedly before opening his eyes again, trying his best to see where Thor could be.

"Bruce, be careful…" Clint warned, turning to look behind him even though he couldn't see a thing.

"Bruce? Bruce, where are you? Stay there, I'm coming to you," Tony's voice sounded more worried than anything as he turned straight around, walking much faster than before, shining the light from his phone every few seconds in front of him to see where he was going.

" _Bruce_ …"

"Thor? Thor, where are you?"

" _Bruce, help me!_ " Bruce started walking forwards again, towards the voice.

"Help me help you, Thor. Where are you? Just keep talking!"

" _Bruce…. Bruce, help me…_ " the voice kept repeating as Bruce came nearer.

"Bruce," Tony said urgently as he held his phone to his ear again. "Bruce,  _stay where you are. Don't go closer to the voice!_ " He started jogging down the halls, not caring anymore if he ran into a wall, just so long as he got to Bruce quickly.

"I'm almost there, buddy," Bruce ignored Tony's warning as he inched closer still to the voice. Hitting a corner, Bruce slowly felt a door in front of him. "Thor?"

" _Help me, Bruce! Help me!"_  The voice came from behind the door.

"Bruce? Bruce, don't trust it!" Clint joined in on Tony's warning. "You can't see! It could be the monster. Remember how good it imitated Steve?"

"Thor, I'm going to open the door, okay?" Bruce continued to ignore his friend's pleas as he felt around for the doorknob.

" _Robert Bruce Banner don't you open that goddamn door,"_ Tony's voice was hard as he rounded a corner, at a full-on run, now.

" _Bruce...Help me…_ " Bruce carelessly dropped his phone to the floor, the light from the screen dimly illuminating the corner of the hallway. Finding the doorknob more easily with the new light, he turned it slowly, opening the door to what he discovered was a janitor's closet.

"I'm here, Thor, don't worry," he said soothingly as Tony rounded the corner down the hall from him.

" _Bruce_!" Tony held his phone tightly in his hand as he ran down the hallway towards Bruce, watching helplessly as his friend walked into the dark closet, the door slamming shut behind him. Reaching the door, he immediately tried to open it, only to find it locked. Dropping his own phone and slamming on the door, he shouted. "BRUCE! BRUCE, SAY SOMETHING. OPEN THE DOOR.  _BRUCE_." But the only thing he could hear was Clint faintly yelling over the phone, trying to figure out what had happened.

Trying the doorknob again, Tony's fingers slipped, suddenly finding it easily able to turn. Quickly opening the door, he burst into the closet, finding only cleaning products, rags, brooms, dustpans, buckets and mops.

"BRUCE?!" Tony helplessly shoved around the chemicals and brooms as if they were hiding Bruce from him. " _BRUCE!?_ "

 


	15. Regrouping?

Tony fell to his knees, his fists pounding into the floor.  
" _NOOO!_ " His breath was fast and shallow, a cold sweat on his brow. Slowly clenching his shaking hands into fists, he began continuously pounding them into the floor until he ran out of energy. Slowly slumping forwards, he let himself fall onto his side. After a few long moments, he heard Clint's voice shouting from his phone that still was lying in the doorway. Staring at it blankly, he stretched his arm out to grab it, slowly bringing it to his ear.

"- _me what's going on!_   _Tony, where's-_ "

"He's gone," Tony interrupted quietly, causing Clint to go silent. "He's… He's  _gone_. I couldn't…"

"Tony, where are you?"

"I couldn't reach him in time… I couldn't… I couldn't save him I… Wasn't fast enough…"

" _Tony_ ," Clint repeated firmly. " _Tell me where you are_."

" _I DON'T KNOW_ ," Tony yelled back, gripping his phone tightly. "I don't fucking  _know_! I can't see! There's fucking  _doors and walls, Barton. Doors and walls._ "

"Okay, okay! Calm down! We're going to find Bruce, we just have to-"

" _If you mention that fucking basement one more time,_ " Tony warned, his eyes narrowing as he slowly sat up again.

"I'm back where we split up," Clint offered, ignoring the threat. "Which direction did Bruce go?"

"Besides  _into thin air_?" Tony scowled at nothing in particular. "Left."

"Left! Okay," he paused. "Tony? Just… Stay put and keep talking, okay? Keep talking so I know you're still there. I'm not losing  _you_ , too."

"Talk? Talk about what?" Tony scoffed, pushing up off the ground to stand.

"Errr… Anything. I don't know."

"How about what I'm going to  _do to that thing once we find it? Especially_  if Bruce is-" he stopped short, a lump forming in his throat. Closing his eyes tightly, he leaned heavily against the closet door.

"Tony?  _Tony_ , are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm still here. Calm your tits, Barton."

"Al _right_ , well you just suddenly cut off, so…"

"Whatever, it wasn't anything. I'm fine."

"Okay, okay. Anyways, yeah, go with that. What're you going to do once we find it?"

"Find a way to catch it. Trap it. Then once we get  _out of this hell-hole_ , I'm going to take it to my workshop. Test on it. Torment it. Break it. But, of course, keep it alive. That way, it'll-"

"You might want to chill out a little, Stark, you're starting to sound pretty psychopathic."

"Fine," Tony scoffed, crossing his arms and opening his eyes to the dark hall in front of him. "I'll kill it. I'll find a weapon. Maybe take one of the brooms from this closet. A little ammonia, maybe. Bleach. And I'll kill it."

"I really don't know if that's better, but…" Clint sighed. "I mean, we  _are_  probably going to have to kill it. The bleach really isn't a bad idea, though."

"You  _think_?"

"Alright, you're still..?"

"Standing in the doorway of the closet. Yeah."

"Can you hear me talking yet?"

"I've been hearing you this whole time, haven't I?"

"Not through the phone, smart ass."

"No."

"O _kay_ …" Clint paused. "God, how  _long_  are these hallways?"

"Too long."

"No kidding… Have they always been this big?"

"Are we still talking about the hallways?"

"...You're making a dick joke  _now_?"

"Someone had to." Another pause.

"Wait. Say something again."

"..Something again?"

" _I heard you_!"

"Oh, shit!" Tony's eyes lit up slightly as he realized there was a faint echo in Clint's voice. "Yeah!"

"Okay, okay, shine your phone down the hall! So I can see if you're down this hall or around the corner yet!" Tony quickly turned on the flashlight, shining it down the hall.

"Can you see it?" He squinted, trying to see further down the hallway.

"I- No," Clint grunted softly, taking a quick, pointless glance behind him before jogging forwards and around the corner. "Wait! There you are! Two seconds!" He grinned slightly as he took off running towards Tony. Though as soon as he was within 20 feet of Tony, his flashlight went out. "Tony?!" Clint ran faster, slowing down quickly and running straight through where Tony had been standing and into the closet. His breath catching in his throat, he spun around. " _Tony?!_ " Exiting the closet, he fumbled with his phone, turning the flashlight on and looking around frantically for his friend. When he saw nothing but an empty hall in front of him and an empty closet behind him, he glanced at his screen.  _Tony was still on the phone_. Practically slamming the device to his ear, he prayed for a response. "Tony! Tony, are you there?!"

There was only silence. Until-

" _No-_   _Tony_!" Clint faintly heard Bruce yell from somewhere on the line.

"Bruce?!"

" _You will never get away with this_ ," Thor warned. Clint swallowed hard, realizing he was unheard. There was a deep chuckle.

" _But I already have…"_  Clint's heart dropped, hearing the creature's voice with his friends. There was more silence, followed by the sound of footsteps.

" _Tony,_ " Bruce whispered after a few moments. " _Tony, wake up!_ "

" _Bruce, give him a minute..._ " Was that-  _Steve?_ Realizing he was holding his breath, Clint exhaled harshly, holding his phone so tight to his ear that it was practically a part of it.

" _But he-_ "

" _As long as it's not in here, Tony'll be fine._ "  _Natasha._  She was still alive! They all were! Now all Clint had to do was find where they were, avoid the monster and  _escape_  with them, and they would all be-

There was a sudden sharp prick to the back of Clint's neck, causing him to collapse onto the floor, dropping his phone. Blinking slowly, he watched the light of his phone grow dim with what was left of his vision. The pain in his neck went from a dull pain to a paralyzing icy sting, spreading quickly throughout his entire body, making it hard to breathe. He felt his body being dragged across the floor as it slowly went numb, his vision fading completely into darkness.

 


	16. Chaos

_Bzzzzzzz._

Clint groaned lowly and put a hand to his head, rubbing his temple softly before opening his eyes. Blinking a few times, he let his eyes adjust to the darkness before looking over at his phone lit up on the nightstand. Checking the time, he reached over and grabbed the phone. 2:48. ' _Who the hell is texting me at 2:48 in the morning? Someone better be dying,'_  he thought bitterly to himself.

_[2:47 am, Nat] Hey, are you up?_

' _Tasha. I should've known._ ' Sighing softly, he adjusted his position to text comfortably.

_[2:48 am, sent] No. Why are you up?_

Closing his eyes again, he carefully balanced his phone on his forehead, waiting for her reply. Flinching slightly when it did come, he opened his eyes and grabbed the phone, wincing slightly at the light.

_[2:50 am, Nat] Can't sleep… Did I wake you up?_

_[2:50 am, sent] Yeah, and I'm going back to sleep now. 'Night, Tasha._

Turning the screen off, he tossed his phone onto the other side of his bed, stretching his arms and legs. Rolling onto his side, he closed his eyes again, quickly falling asleep.

_Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz._

Clint blinked a few times, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion before realizing his phone was vibrating. Sighing loudly, he stretched his arm out and grabbed his phone. ' _What now, Tasha?'_

_[2:51 am, Nat] Fine, jerk._

_[3:13 am, Nat] I thought you said you were going to bed?_

_[3:14 am, Nat] I may have been in the shower, but I still heard you, idiot._

_[3:14 am, Nat] I'm not coming out there in just a towel. Get out._

Clint stared at his phone, still half asleep.

_[3:16 am, sent] Oooh, you're just in a towel? ;)_

_[3:17 am, Nat] How did you even get in?_

He opened his mouth slightly, sitting up slowly, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Wait…" Looking around the room quickly, he turned on the light, the sense of deja vu flooding his brain.

_[3:18 am, sent] Wait, Nat… I'm lying in my bed...  
[3:18 am, sent] Has this… Already happened before?_

_[3:18 am, Nat] Ha ha very funny._

_[3:19 am, sent] No, really. Has this happened before?_

He sat, waiting for an answer. After a few moments, he sighed quickly and took a picture to prove that he was, in fact, in his bed, nowhere near her apartment building. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and leaned forwards, his elbows resting on his knees.

_[3:20 am, sent] (Attachment) See? Not there._

Clint continued to wait, staring at his phone. Leaning back, his leg started bouncing in anticipation. He glanced at the clock again. 3:25. Looking back at his phone, he lit up the screen. Still no response. Something was wrong.

_[3:26 am, sent] Natasha?_

...Nothing.

_[3:28 am, sent] Tasha, please._

_[3:28 am, Nat] I was wrong._

Clint gulped slightly and adjusted his position slightly, all sense of deja vu immediately vanishing. In the middle of typing, he got another message.

_[3:29 am, Nat] I heard it in the kitchen, so I opened the door, ready to kick your ass but I was wrong_

_[3:29 am, Nat] I was so so wrong_

Goosebumps appeared all over his arms. She never,  _ever_  admitted she was wrong. At anything. The sense this had happened before slowly began creeping in again. Maybe he'd dreamed this happening before? Was  _this_  a dream? Shaking his head slightly, he replied.

_[3:30 am, sent] Tasha, what is it? Who's there?_

_[3:30 am, Nat] I don't know if it saw me I closed the door right after I saw it_

Something about the way that she kept saying "it" sent cold shivers down Clint's spine and he stood up.

_[3:31 am, sent] It? Why do you keep saying it?_

_[3:32 am, Nat] It s not human. it was taller than th e ceiling it had to bend down_

_[3:32 am, Nat] It looked like it had claws instead of hands_

_[3:33 am, Nat] It's April 1st. If this is some sort of fucking sick joke you and Tony are playing, I'm going to fucking kill you._

_[3:33 am, sent] Tasha, I promise you, it isn't._

Clint started pacing his bedroom, not taking his eyes off of his phone. Should he call the police? Should he text Tony to make sure he wasn't pulling any shit? Fingers trembling slightly, he sent Tony a message.

_[3:34 am, Nat] Bullshit. You guys are assholes. Tell him to cut it out._

_[3:34 am, Tony] No? I've been up with Bruce. Why?_

He licked his lips slightly, trying to determine if Tony was lying or not. Tasha was right, it was April 1st, and Tony was an asshole. Especially when it came to pranking or scaring people.

_[3:35 am, sent] Prove it._

He stopped pacing and glanced around the dimly lit room. Tapping his fingers on his phone lightly, he slowly sat back down on his bed, waiting.

_Bzzzzzz._

_[3:37 am, Tony] (Attachment) Seeeee?_

Clint looked at the picture that Tony sent. The two boys were sat in front of a small tv, both holding controllers in their hands while Mario Kart was paused in the background. Something about the picture unnerved Clint- it was probably their expressions. Tony was glaring at the camera while Bruce looked as though he'd seen a ghost. Staring at the picture, he jumped slightly when the phone buzzed again.

_[3:38 am, Nat] CLINT THIS ISN'T FUNNY._

_[3:38 am, Nat] TELL HIM TO FUCKING KNOCK IT OFF._

_[3:38 am, sent] Tasha, it isn't him. I just texted him. He's been with Bruce all night._

He stared at his phone, anxiously waiting for her to reply. After a few minutes, he started nervously opening and closing the messaging app, his leg bouncing again. Trying to focus on Tasha, his mind kept going back to the picture from Tony.

_[3:44 am, sent] Tasha? Seriously, it isn't Stark. I promise.._

He waited a few minutes more. Nothing. He went back to the picture, but when he tried to open it, the app crashed.

"What?" He said aloud, his eyebrows furrowing. He tried again, but the app continued to crash. Shaking his head, he went to Natasha again.

_[3:49 am, sent] Natasha are you okay?_

_[3:49 am, sent] Please, Nat, what's going on?_

_[3:51 am, sent] Hello?_

He should do something. But what could he do? He was miles away- if something  _happened_ … Clint began to pace around the room, trying to decide what to do, nearly dropping his phone when he got a message.

_[3:58 am, Nat] It keeps calling for me… Whispering my name over and over…_

_[3:59 am, Nat] "Time's up"_

_[3:59 am, sent] Nat I'll be there as soon as possible just stay safe_

Clint immediately ran around his room, grabbing his hearing aid and putting his socks and shoes on in record-time, cursing quietly to himself as he put them on the wrong feet at first. Practically running out of his room and through his apartment, he tripped straight over a laundry basket, landing face-first onto the floor.

" _Ooof!_ " He froze for a moment. "I  _know_  this' happened before…" Staying on the floor another moment, he quickly brushed the thought away, figuring he was being ridiculous. Jumping up, he ran to the door, only to go back and grab his keys before he left. Jogging across the hall, he opened the door to Steve's apartment, walking right in and turning the lights on.

" _Steve!_ " Clint practically shouted as he made his way into Steve's room where he was still sleeping through the already open door. Exhaling sharply, he narrowed his eyes. Grabbing one of the blankets with both hands, he pulled up in one sharp movement and suddenly Steve found himself face down on the floor next to his bed. Groaning softly, he slowly made to sat up.

"What do you  _want_ , Barton?"

"Tasha's in trouble," he said quickly, tossing a shirt to him, looking for his shoes. Steve sat up, waking up quickly.

"She's in trouble?" Standing slowly, he pulled on his shirt and grabbed some socks, sitting on the floor to put them on.

"I'll tell you on the way," Clint answered, sounding extremely distracted. "Ah!" Steve's shoes suddenly went flying past his head from the closet, one of them hitting him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Exhaling sharply, his eyes narrowing slightly, he picked up his shoes and put them on. "...Right." Grabbing his phone, he looked up, only to see Clint was gone. "Hello?"

"Come  _on!_ " Clint called, already at the front door. Jogging out of his room and out the front door, he glanced at Clint as he locked and closed his door.

"Thor lives right by her, doesn't he?" He asked, sounding more like he was stating fact than answering a question. "Shouldn't you call him?"

"Right! I didn't even think to try Thor, actually…" Clint furrowed his eyebrows, instantly frustrated with himself. He took out his phone quickly and dialed Thor's number, putting his phone to his ear. Steve glanced at him and stayed quiet, moving quickly. Thor answered almost immediately.

"Hello?"

"Thor!" Clint practically shouted through the phone. "Thor, Tasha's in trouble. Get the hell up and over to her apartment.  _Now_ , okay?"

"She's in trouble?"

"Yes."

"How can you be s-"

"Just  _trust me, damn it, and get the fucking hell over there!"_

"Of course," he said quickly.

"Good. Hurry up." Clint hung up and quickly put his phone back in his pocket, taking out his car keys. They were in the parking garage next to their apartment building, headed for Clint's car. _Technically_  it was Tony's car, but he never used it. "C'mon!" he called to Steve as he climbed in the driver's seat. Automatically feeling uneasy, he shook his head and started the car, ignoring the warning in his stomach. Steve got in the car and shut the door, staying quiet.

"We're coming, Tasha," Clint whispered as he quickly pulled out of the parking garage and onto the empty street. Arriving what seemed like a matter of seconds, the boys climbed out of the car. Slightly confused, Clint stalled as he closed the door. "Did… Did that seem like it took literally no time to get here?"

"That's how long it always takes," Steve said dismissively, shutting his own door. Looking at the apartment building, Clint blinked a few times. The front door was wide open and the lights that usually stayed on 24/7 were all off.

"Alright, I've got a  _really_  bad feeling about this…" Clint said hesitantly as he slowly made his way towards the building.

"Clint, you're being ridiculous," Steve rolled his eyes, grabbing Clint's shoulders and steering him inside. Glancing around inside the dark entrance as he stepped inside, Clint took out his phone, turning on its flashlight.

"Nat's on the 7th floor… C'mon," the pair made their way silently to the stairs and began to climb them. Gripping his phone tightly, Clint read off the floor names as they reached them. "2… 3... 4… _Ow… Stupid step… 5… What was that_?" He stopped, spinning around to look back down the stairs.

"I didn't hear anything," Steve shook his head, looking at Clint. "Let's keep going." Giving him a weird look, Clint nodded slowly, turning back around.

"Okaaaaay… 6… 7. Okay, I think her apartment issss… Two halls… A corner… Or two… Then it's one of the ones on the… Left, I think. 7B. Got it?" Glancing behind him, Clint stopped, realizing Steve was no where in sight. "... _Steve?_  Steve!"

Silence. Slowly turning his head to the door, he stopped again.  _Surely,_ this had happened before. He'd walk through that door alone, stumble around in the dark like an idiot, get to Tasha's… She wouldn't answer. He'd break the door open. Look around. She would be missing. Thor would show up. Maybe he  _had_  dreamed this before? Either way, he couldn't risk it. Not if Tasha's  _life_  could be on the line. Opening the door, he began making his way down the hall. After a few seconds, he stopped dead as a dark voice called to him.

" _Clint….Barton…._ " Immediately shining his light all around, he looked for the source of the voice.

"...Who's there?"

" _I'm going to kill you… Just like I killed her…_ " the voice whispered, the noise seeming to surround him completely. Turning forwards again, Clint yelped and jumped backwards. A gigantic creature with hundreds of arms stood in front of him. Its skin appearing to be stretched back, its eyes far too big for its head and completely black. Its mouth was huge, its teeth razor sharp and covered in blood.

" _Nope!_ " Clint took off running in the opposite direction, rounding a corner and practically running straight into Natasha's front door. Knocking at first, he realized what he was doing was stupid, as there was a  _monster_  probably following him, just in the next hall. Instead of waiting for an answer, he took a step back and kicked the door in, mentally apologizing to Tasha and promising to pay for it.

Closing the door as best he could, he quickly began his search through the apartment, starting with the bathroom and making his way to the bedroom, not finding a single sign of Tasha. As soon as he set foot in the bedroom, he jumped, hearing a loud banging against the front door. " _Shit_ ," he whispered to himself, glancing back towards the door. "Tasha?" Walking further into the bedroom, he saw the light of a phone suddenly shining on the floor. Stooping down to pick it up, he recognized it as Tasha's phone. "Oh. Great. Of course." Unlocking the phone, he saw that he had a text message from himself. Only it was brand new. Confused, he felt in his pockets for his phone, only finding them to be empty. " _Shit!_ "

_[4:23 am, Clint] The halls are decorated in her blood._

Growling softly, he replied as quickly as he could.

_[4:24 am, sent] Who the fuck is this!? WHERE IS NATASHA._

"Clint?" Clint squealed and the phone went flying into the air, hitting him in the head. Grunting softly, he rubbed his head and picked up the phone, finding Thor standing in the doorway.

"Thor! Where have you been?! I told you to go  _immediately_ to Tasha's!"

"I've looked through the entire apartment and haven't seen her. Have you?"

"...No. Obviously," Clint rolled his eyes before stopping. "Err… You didn't… See… Blood on the walls in the hallways, did you?" He asked almost awkwardly and Thor shook his head.

"No? Should I have?"

" _No_ , no…" he shook his head quickly. "No, it's… Nevermind, that's nothing."

_Bzzzzz._

Flinching slightly and almost dropping the phone in his hands again, Clint looked at it, seeing another text from "himself." Unlocking the phone quickly, he read the message.

_[4:31 am, Clint] Clint, it's Natasha. I'm still in the building, but I don't have a lot of time. I'm going to call you quickly._

Heart practically leaping out of his chest, Clint glanced at Thor as the phone received an incoming call.

" _Hello?! Nat?!_ "

"Go down," Tasha sounded from over the phone. Clint sighed softly in relief. She was alive. She was actually alive. Sure, a text was one thing, but that could have been a trick. Hearing her voice just automatically made him feel a little better.

"Tasha! Tasha you're-"

" _Just go down! Keep. Going. Down,"_ she repeated over and over again.

"Down? Down where? Tasha, where are you?" Clint quickly began making his way past Thor, through the apartment and to the front door.

"Shit! Don't use the-"

The call suddenly dropped and Clint stared at the phone.

"Tasha?! Damn it!  _...Damn it!"_ Racing out the door and into the hall, he called back at Thor. "Thor! Come on!" Glancing behind him for a moment, he almost immediately ran straight into Tony and Bruce.

"Clint!" Bruce exclaimed happily as he jumped up off the floor, helping both Tony and Clint to their feet.

"T… Tony, Bruce, what the hell are you two doing here?"

"To help, obviously," Tony glared at him.

"I… Umm…" Pausing a moment, Clint exhaled sharply before jogging towards the stairs again. "Don't have time for this- if you're helping, follow me!" Bursting into the stairwell, Clint began taking the stairs two at a time down. After a few flights of stairs, he nearly walked straight into Steve.

"Steve! ..Steve,  _where have you been?!_ "

"What?" Steve looked at him, clearly confused. Shaking his head, he glanced around. "I've… Been right here? With you? The entire time."

" _The hell you have!_ "

"Come on," he began to steer Clint back towards the stairs to go up, only to be stopped by Clint. "What are you doing? We have to keep going up! To find Natasha?"

"Steve. I  _just came from upstairs_. Tasha isn't there."

"You're delirious. Come on," Steve tried again.

"Wh- No. Look," Clint insisted, glaring slightly and holding up the phone in his hand. "I've got Tasha's phone to prove it." Steve stopped and looked at him for a long time before responding.

"Clint… That's  _your phone_ …"

"No, it's-" Stopping short, Clint examined the phone in his hand more closely. He  _was_  holding his phone. Spinning it over in his hands quickly, muttering under his breath, he turned the screen on. _4:10_   _am._  "Wait, we hadn't even  _left_  until after 4- now it's saying it's only 4:10!" Steve ignored him, staring up the stairs, hearing the faint sound of Bruce, Tony and Thor chatting as they made their way towards them. Glancing at Steve, he followed his line of sight up the stairs and heard the boys, watching them as they rounded the corner. "Ah! See?!" Pointing up the stairs, he turned to look at Steve, the presence of the others proving he was right.

Steve stood frozen at the door leading into the hallway, his back turned to Clint and his hand gripping the handle. Clint suddenly felt more uneasy than ever as he slowly walked towards Steve. "…Steve? Where are you going..?" Bruce walked onto the landing and peeked over Clint's shoulder.

"Steve?" Within seconds, Tony and Thor were behind Clint and Bruce, all of their eyes on Steve.

"Oh, uh… I, heh," Steve slowly turned to face them, a nervous grin plastered over his face. "I was gonna look for... For Natasha  _this_  way…"

"Why?" Bruce asked as he took a step forwards next to Clint. "You know her apartment is up."

"And anyway, why would she be on this floor?" Tony asked, moving out from behind Clint's other side.

"Well I- she- She could be  _anywhere_ , really," Steve forced a chuckle, his hand still firmly on the door handle.

"You're acting weird as hell, Rogers," Tony crossed his arms, one eyebrow cocked. "What's goin' on?"

"What aren't you telling us?" Clint demanded, crossing his own arms. Thor glanced back up the stairs and then at Steve, tall enough to see him clearly over Tony, Clint and Bruce's heads. Steve merely shook his head.

"You guys can look wherever you want. But I'm going this way," he insisted, giving them a twisted grin and was immediately through the door, slamming it behind him.

"Damn it, what the hell?!" Clint charged forwards. "Steve!" he yelled as he swung open the door, only to stop in his tracks. Running down the hallway with its back to the boys was the creature from upstairs. The only difference now being Steve's hair falling from its scalp, his skin peeling away from the creature's back, and his clothes scattered down the hall behind it. The four stood completely motionless in the doorway as they watched the creature round the corner out of sight.

"What," Bruce finally managed after a few moments of silence.

"The  _fuck_ ," Tony added immediately.

"Was  _that_?" Bruce finished almost numbly. Tony's jaw was hanging open slightly as he continued to stare at where the creature had disappeared to. Thor had the small hints of a smirk on his face.

"We should go find Natasha," Thor suggested casually, looking at Clint.

"Yep!" Clint practically slammed the door shut again and took down the stairs again.

As he got to the bottom of the steps on the ground floor, he went and quickly opened the door, immediately freezing in his place.  
"Why are we stopping?" Tony asked, stopping quickly so he didn't walk into Clint. Рooked from Clint to the hall, his jaw immediately dropping open slightly.  
"What's-" Bruce stopped as he stared at the hallway in front of them.  
"Is there a problem?" Thor asked, annoyed. "I thought we were in a hurry?"  
"But we went down," Clint finally said, numbly. "We went  _down_." In the hall was the same discarded clothes mixed with shredded skin and hair as before. Clint shut the door and opened it again, as if the scene in front of them would change, but it still remained the same. " _There's no way."_ He took off running down the stairs again, but as he got to the floor below, he found himself standing behind the boys again. " _What?!_ " he yelled and the other three spun around, all with different levels of shock on their faces.  
"Didn't you just…?"  
"...But you.." Clint took off up the stairs instead, hoping to end up on the third floor. Yet when he reached the next floor, he found himself standing in front of his friends yet again.  
"This isn't  _right_!" he ran up the stairs again, only to come to the second floor a third time. "Okay…  _Okay_ … So we're trapped on this floor," Clint said to himself, starting to pace in circles on the landing. Looking between Tony and Bruce, Clint stopped again, his face paling. "Wh… Where did Thor go…?" Bruce and Tony immediately looked around the stairwell, their eyes widening.  
"But he was just here!"  
" _How_ … Did you  _lose him_?" Clint stared at them, his mouth hanging open slightly. "Wait…  _Wait…_  No… I've… I've  _seen this before_ … I know I have… Tasha is missing. Probably in the basement. Steve is missing. Probably dead. Thor is missing…" Tony and Bruce exchanged concerned glances.  
"Clint… What are you talking about?"  
"Next we- We go out into the hall… It's dark… We're using our phones to see. Hand in hand…"  
"I would never walk hand in hand with either of you," Tony interrupted quickly, but Clint continued regardless.  
"We go down the stairs at the other end of the building…" He was pacing now.  
"Clint, you're not making any sense."  
"We reach the ground floor-"  
"Is that why we're still  _right here with the stairs that keep sending us back to this floor_?"  
"-And we split up-"  
"That's a dumb idea. We would never do that." Bruce objected bitterly, his arms crossing. Tony glared at Clint, nodding.  
"-And  _Bruce! Bruce gets taken by the creature!"_  
"'Creature?' Clint, now you're just making shit up."  
"Tony goes running, but he's too… He's too late, and-"  
"Clint!" the two men began yelling his name, louder and louder each time they opened their mouths.  
"-And I go running after Tony-"  
" _Clint!_ "  
"-But by the time I get there, it's taken  _him too_ -"  
" _CLINT!"_  
"And then it-"  
" _CLINT!"_  
"- _it took me_." The two men went silent as they stared at Clint, their eyes unblinking, their faces motionless. Clint looked between them. " _The monster took me. And none of this is real, is it?_ " As if on cue, Tony and Bruce opened their mouths, and a piercing screech came from them and surrounded Clint. Gasping and nearly ripping out his hearing aid, Clint covered his ears, wincing slightly, still able to hear the noise as if he still had his hearing aids in. Through the screeching sound, however, he could still hear a voice faintly calling to him.  
"Clint!  _Clint! Can you hear me?! Clint!_ "

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so. So sorry for how much of that was repeated from other chapters. But it was kind of necessary.  
> Still. That was probably annoying I apologize ;_;


	17. All Together

The first thing that registered in his braid was his head hurting- no, not hurting.  _Throbbing_. Almost as though there was a knife embedded into it (though, of course, there wasn't.)

Groaning softly, Clint moved to cradle his head in his hands. Only before his arms got too far, they were pulled back. Pausing for a moment, he tried again. And again, his arms were stopped from moving.

"What is this?" He asked to no one, his voice groggy.

"Clint?  _Clint!"_

"Guys,  _he's awake_ -"

" _-about time-_ "

"- _Tony, stop-_ "

"- _is he okay-_ "

"- _are_ we? _-"_ Clint slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head to look around. The room was dark, the only light coming from a doorway in the corner of the room, so it took a few moments for his eyes to adjust. Placed throughout the room were thick, concrete support beams. There was a dark puddle near the doorway that made Clint's stomach flip, and there were a couple of things scattered around that looked suspiciously like bones and clothing. The smell of blood and rotting flesh was almost overwhelming, and Clint found himself holding his breath multiple times to try and keep from breathing it in.

 _And there they were._  Tony, Bruce, Steve, even Thor… And  _Tasha._  Each of them had their back against a concrete beam, tight chains holding them in place, going around their arms and their torsos. They had their ankles bound together with more chains that connected to the ones around their chests. It was then Clint realized that he, too, was tied up, his back also against a concrete post.

"Are we dead?" He asked, his voice rough, his head still pounding and foggy.

"Well,  _we_ aren't, but you died. Sorry, Clint," Tasha smirked slightly, but that didn't hide the relief in her voice and expression. Clint chuckled softly and bowed his head.

"Damn. Just when things were getting interesting."

"So," Tasha said slightly louder, looking around at the others. "Everyone's caught up now, right? We all know what's going on?"

"If you can call this 'knowing what's going on,' then sure," Tony glanced at Tasha and sighed.

"How long's it been gone for?" Steve looked at the door, craning his neck to try and see through it.

"It hasn't been back since it dropped off Clint," Bruce offered, furrowing his eyebrows to try and remember. "So ten minutes maybe?"

"And it has been back  _about_  every 15 minutes so far, correct?" Thor looked at Tasha.

"Right," she nodded, her eyes fixed on the door.

"So then we still have the  _choice to make_ ," Steve looked at Tasha, Thor and then Bruce.

"I'm sorry, what are we talking about?" Clint looked between everyone, clearly confused.

"We're either going to do something stupid and die," Tony looked at him, eyebrows raised. " _Or_ , we're gonna do something  _incredibly stupid_. And die." Nodding slightly, he shrugged a shoulder.

"Are we… Gonna fill Clint in? Because I think Clint should definitely know what's going on if we're gonna die," Clint said, trying not to show how nervous he was.

" _Well_ , we can either escape, leave  _now_  and try to just get the hell  _out_  of here, avoid Bruce going green, avoid the whatever-it-is, grab our gear and deal with this thing for  _real_ …" Steve said, his eyes on the doorway again.

" _Or_ ," Thor continued for him. "We can escape and  _fight it_   _now_!" Sounding a little too excited at the thought of fighting it now, Thor quickly went on as the rest of the team looked at him. "And, of course, keep Bruce from 'going green,' work together as a team to take the beast down, and-"

" _How_  exactly are we going to beat that thing without our shit? Because I'm sure you've noticed: that didn't go so well the first time," Tony scowled at everyone, trying to make them see reason.

"We weren't all together last time," Steve insisted. "Also, now, we kind of have a better idea of what we're going up against."

"It's basically a shape-shifter," Tasha explained to Clint, seeing the confused expression on his face. "It can take someone and become an exact copy of them. Walk the same, sound the same…"

"Which explains Steven on the stairwell," Thor nodded to Clint.

"And Steve's skin discarded in the hallway," Tony added bitterly and Steve made a face of disgust.

"But that's not all it can do," Clint said finally, looking between everyone. "I mean, how are we supposed to explain the stairs?"

"We're  _guessing_  that it can…Going against  _all_  current scientific theory… Sort of 'alter reality'." Bruce answered, looking at Clint. "And, really, if we could… If we were able to, to study his.. His, uh, kind of, his 'hardwiring', I mean… That could create a  _countless_  amount of.. Of scientific breakthroughs, it'd be really-"

"We'll think about that  _after_  we kill it, Bruce," Tasha interrupted almost impatiently.

" _We're running out of time_ ," Steve said quickly, glancing at the doorway and then at everyone else. "We have to decide what we're doing.  _Now_." Everyone looked around, waiting for someone to decide what they were going to do. Sighing big, Steve tilted his head back, resting it on the concrete. "Now. Now, we're leaving now. Thor?" Almost immediately, both Steve and Thor broke through the chains around their torsos and quickly worked to take off the binds around their ankles. Once freed, the two quickly went to work freeing the others, Natasha keeping her eyes on the doorway just in case.

"Guys? We've got about a minute or less before it comes back," she warned as Thor broke her chains. After a couple of moments, they were all on their feet, Clint, still out of it, leaning one of of the beams for support.

"Does  _anyone_ know what the hall looks like out there?" Clint asked, rubbing his forehead with his palm.

"We all got here pretty much the same way: unconscious and dragged across the floor," Tasha explained to him and he sighed.

"Right… So really, we've got  _no idea_  where we're going, no idea of what we're really going up against… We've… We've just got no idea," Clint complained and Tony nodded eagerly.

"Finally! That's what I've been trying to say all along!"

"C'mon!" Steve whispered harshly, already at the doorway, peeking through it cautiously for any signs of the creature. "It's not like we can re-chain ourselves and wait for the thing to come back!"

"Anyways, who  _knows_  what it'd do once it got back," Bruce raised his eyebrows slightly, playing with his fingers nervously.

"They're right," Thor nodded. "We have no choice anymore." Steve nodded and glanced back at everyone before looking into the hall again.

"Alright," he whispered again. " _Let's go!_ "


	18. The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was actually really unsure with this chapter. Because I mean. I've known the direction this was going to take for a while, but... I don't know. People are probably going to be upset and go "UGH this is such BULLSHIT" but hey. Whatever, man. Whatever. -E

The team made their way down the dimly lit hallway as silently as possible. Stopping only when they got to a corner. Peering cautiously around the it, Steve squinted slightly at the pitch black hallway in front of him.

"What do you see? Do you see it?" Bruce asked nervously.

"No," Steve whispered back. "I don't see anything. It's completely black."

"Oh. Oh great. I'm so glad we went with this. This was such a great idea," Tony muttered under his breath, earning a glare from Tasha.

" _Look_ ," she whispered harshly. "We aren't going to just sit in there and  _wait_  for it to kill us."  
"Yeah," Thor added. "If it's going to kill us, we're at least going to give it a hard time." Tony merely crossed his arms and looked back at Steve, who was inching his way around the corner, still trying to see.

"You know, if it's down the hall, it's going to be able to see you," he pointed out bitterly. Sighing heavily, Steve gave up his 'sneaking' and just walked around the corner.

"Fine," he glanced back at the team for a moment before turning his attention to the hall. "Anyone got a light?" They all looked amongst themselves, hoping that someone would have  _something_  to light the way. "...Great."

"Guess this wasn't such a  _bright_  idea after all, huh?" Clint asked, only to get looks from the rest of them. He held his hands up in defense as they all joined Steve into the new hallway. "Just trying to lighten the mood…"

" _Anyway_." Tony shook his head and the group made their way slowly and cautiously down the hallway. After a few moments, Steve stumbled forwards, landing on a flight of stairs.

" _Ooof!_ "

"I think you found the stairs," Bruce offered quietly, glancing behind them.

"You mean the ones that didn't exist earlier?" Clint huffed, irritated that they had been unable to find the stairs earlier and were able to find them so easily now.

"Probably," Tony nodded.

"Would've saved us a world of trouble if we could've found them earlier," Bruce sighed.

"What're you talking about?" Tasha looked at them, barely able to make out their outlines.

"The stairs," Clint looked at her. "That lead down here? We couldn't find them."

"What do you mean you  _couldn't find them_? They're in the same stairwell as the rest of the stairs…" Thor explained, his brow furrowing slowly, taking a glance at Tasha.

" _Well_ , they  _weren't fucking there earlier, alright?_ " Clint snapped back.

"Can we just  _go_   _up_   _them_  instead of  _talking_   _about them_?" Steve asked quickly, not wanting to stay in the area a second longer than they had to in case the creature found them unprepared.

"A good idea," Thor nodded, beginning to go up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

"Alright. We've got to find it. Draw it out," Steve said quickly once they'd reached the landing at the top of the stairs. They were back on the ground floor, exactly where there had been no more stairs going down earlier.

"And… How do you expect we do  _that_?" Tony panted. Making sure the area was secure, the group huddled up into a circle, keeping a close eye on both stair cases and the door.

Steve glanced around the circle.

"Well, for starters… Someone's going to have to be 'bait.'" Everyone slowly looked at one another, all of their eyes eventually falling on Clint.

"...Really," Clint sighed heavily while running a hand through his hair.

"Tony and Bruce will be down one of the hallways you'll take to try and trap the thing," Steve continued, glancing at the pair of them. Bruce looked nervous as Tony nodded his head in agreement. Looking over at Bruce, Tony smiled slightly.

"Hey. We're geniuses, remember? We can  _trap_  a stupid monster." Bruce gave him a small smile and Steve went on.

"Once it's trapped, Thor, Natasha and I will take it down."

"Alright… So what does being 'bait' entail exactly?" Clint asked suspiciously.

"You just have to draw the beast out of hiding and down the hall where Steven and I will attack it," Thor nodded at him, placing a hand on Clint's shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry. We'll get to it before it gets to you."

"Yeah," he scoffed under his breath. "What could  _possibly go wrong_?"

 

* * *

 

 

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit,  _run run run run run run_ ," Clint zoomed past the pair, his eyes wide. Behind him, they could just make out the shape of the creature following Clint, hearing its heavy footsteps coming down the hall quickly. Bruce looked at Tony, frozen for a second before scrambling to his feet. Almost immeditaely, Tony took off running, Bruce following him at his heels.

However, in a matter of seconds, Bruce felt himself being yanked back by his shirt collar, a short choking noise escaping from his throat. Skidding to a halt, Tony turned around and gasped.

" _Bruce_!" He gaped in horror as he watched Bruce - his best friend - lifted up by his both of his arms by the creature. Without thinking, he charged at it. " _BRUUUUUUCE!"_  But before he got even 5ft in their direction, the creature yanked Bruce's arms outwards, pulling both of them out of their sockets. Crying out in pain, Bruce shut his eyes tightly as Tony froze in his place.

"T-Tony!"

" _You thought… You could trick me?_ " A dark chuckle came from the monster as it yanked Bruce's arms again, this time ripping them both off completely. Falling to the ground with a loud thud, Bruce screamed as he rolled on the floor in front of the creature, blood quickly puddling beneath him. Slowly walking backwards into the darkness, the creature disappeared again.

Immediately falling to his knees upon seeing Bruce's armless body, Tony puked all over the floor in front of him. His arms shaking, he quickly forced himself to crawl towards Bruce, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

"B- _Bruce_ ," Tony knelt in front of Bruce, not having any idea what to do. Bruce had rolled to his back, his skin getting more and more pale by the second, his breath fast and harsh. "It's-" Tony suppressed a gag, trying not to puke again at the sight. "It's going to be… It's… Gonna be…"

"Tony," Bruce started coughing, a small bead of blood dribbling down the side of his cheek, his entire body trembling uncontrollably. He was going to bleed out within a matter of moments. Tony knew it. They both knew it. "Tony…."

"No, Br-Bruce, don't-"

"Don't…" Bruce interrupted, coughing more. "Don't… Get drunk at the… At the zoo…" His breaths quickly turned into short and shallow gasps and Tony pushed some hair gently from his face.

"I… I won't, Brucie," Tony could feel tears already stinging his eyes.

"And stop… Trying to… To steal the p… The pen….. The pen...guins…." With the final word, Bruce coughed one last time before letting his head fall back onto the floor, his eyes closing. Tony stared at him, holding his breath as if waiting for Bruce to keep talking to him.

"B… Bruce?  _Brucie_?" he choked out, tears starting to fall quickly. Gently placing a hand on Bruce's cheek, he continued calling his name. "Brucie?!  _Brucie, no. No! You can't do this to me! Bruce!"_

 

* * *

 

 

"Congratulations, Doctor Banner," Nick Fury's voice sounded from somewhere next to Bruce. "You were the first one to die."

"I'm… I'm dead?" Bruce asked groggily, not daring to open his eyes.

"Technically, no. But for our simulation, yes." Bruce's eyes flew open.

" _Simulation?_ " Sitting up quickly, his head was immediately spinning, forcing him to lay down and tightly shut his eyes again. Rubbing his temples slowly, he opened his eyes again, taking a look around the room.

The room was long and rectangular, six large pod-looking things evenly lined up against one wall. Behind the pods was a large one-way window, and directly across from each pod was what looked like a tv screen. Sitting up- much slower this time- Bruce noticed that each member of the team was in a pod: and each member of the team had their own screen across from their pod. The screens showed whoever was in the pod across from it. They were all in the hallway that Bruce had just been in himself. Looking down, he realised that he had been laying in one of the pods himself, the top of it slid off to the side, the screen across from his pod off.

"It's a  _training exercise_ ," Fury explained to him.

"Training exercise," Bruce repeated, still trying to wrap his head around what was happening. "So you're telling me that  _none of that was real_?"  
"None of it."

"And the creature…?"

"Was made up by one of your imaginations."

"So  _really_ , what you're saying is… Is that you put us all in this  _simulation..._   _Without telling us_ … And let us  _think it was real_  to-"

"It wouldn't be as effective if you didn't think it was real, Bruce," Fury raised a brow at him as Bruce let out a high laugh.

" _You made us believe. That this was all real. And you just… You think that's okay?!_ " Bruce glared and Fury glanced at the one-way window, nodding slightly.

"Bruce," Fury said calmly, watching him closely, only managing to irritate him further. Somewhere behind him, Bruce heard a rapid beeping as he felt his heart rate begin to climb. "I'm going to have to ask you to calm down."

"So the rest of them," Bruce spat out, becoming more angry as he spoke. "What do they do? Do they just… Keep going? Until they die? What kind of  _sick, twisted-_ " Immediately feeling a sharp pain in his arm, he felt dizzy. He hadn't even noticed the man in a long white coat walk over to him. He hadn't noticed the needle before it was stuck into his arm. Very quickly, his vision grew dark and he felt himself fall backwards, his head hitting a small pillow. Just before he went unconscious, he heard Fury once more time.

"It's just a training exercise, Doctor Banner."

 


	19. Two Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the chapters from here on out will occasionally switch back and forth from the simulation to the "real world". Basically what I'll do to kind of signal this is add a line.  
> Also! The simulation parts will sometimes have short commentaries from those who aren't in the simulation anymore. Those will be in parenthesis and italicized! Hopefully that's not too confusing... Just lemme know if it is!

" _Where is it?_  I thought it was right behind you?" Steve whispered to Clint from his hiding spot as he rushed past. "And Stark. Banner. They were supposed to follow you, too."

"I… I don't know," Clint panted out as he got to his own hiding spot, waiting for the creature that wasn't coming.

"You  _lost_  it?!" Tasha glared at him from her spot across the hall.

"Wh- It wasn't my fault," Clint argued back at her, stealing a glance down the hall. "I did  _exactly_  what I was told: no matter how  _stupid_  or dangerous it was."

"Really," Tasha crossed her arms at him.

"Yes."

"Okay, yeah. Then where is it?" Raising an eyebrow at Clint, Tasha looked down the hallway. "Because  _clearly_ , it's not-" Natasha immediately fell silent as a pained scream echoed through the halls.  _Tony_.

After a moment of silence, the trio took off running in the direction Clint had just come from, Thor jumping from his hiding place and following closely behind. Following the hall to the sound of the scream, the group stopped short when they saw the scene in front of them.

"Oh…  _God_ ," Clint gagged, quickly putting a hand over his mouth. Halfway down the hall was Tony, sprawled out on his back on top of Bruce. His stomach was torn open, his intestines pulled out and dragged part-way down the hall. Underneath him, Bruce was missing both of his arms, a still-growing puddle of blood surrounding the pair.

"We have to get out of here," Tasha immediately turned back the direction they had come.

"You're not even going to check if they're still alive?!" Clint asked, astounded.

"Clint," Steve said quietly, looking at him, his eyebrows bowed up. "Even if one of them were still alive… There's nothing we would be able to do to help them. We have to keep going."  
"But-"

" _Now_." Tasha walked back to Clint and grabbed his arm, pulling him back the way they came.

* * *

"You're  _not_  actually dead, Stark," Fury tried again, irritation clear in his tone as Tony waved him off dismissively.

"Well  _clearly_  this couldn't be Heaven: you're here," Tony complained, his brow furrowing. "Hell. That's it; I'm in hell." A nurse walked over and sat him up slowly, her hand on Tony's back. Glancing at the woman as she checked him over, he got a better look around the room. "Are we in the tower?"

"It's a simulation center," Fury explained to him, crossing his arms. "You lay in those pods, go in. We see what you do on those screens," the man gestured towards the wall opposite the pods.

"And… You weren't going to  _tell us_  about this? How the hell'd you even get us all here?  _Drug us_?"

"Whatever was necessary so that you didn't know it wasn't real. The point was to see how you worked together in the face of death."

" _Clearly_  that worked." Tony rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands as the nurse walked off, writing away on a chart she held in her hands. "Couldn't you have just programmed the simulation to alter our memories? So in-sim we wouldn't know?" Fury ignored him, now fixated on one of the screens on the wall.

 _"Thor, c'mon! Where are you going?!"_  Tony heard Steve yell and looked over at the screens.

"So, we get to watch what happens now?"

"Until the simulation is finished, yes."

"Can I at least get a cup of coffee?" Fury motioned towards a man standing near the door and turned his attention back to the screens.

 _"We're supposed to be trying to get out, not further in the building!"_  Clint chased after Thor, grabbing his arm to stop him from walking up the stairs.

 _"That monster killed Tony and Bruce! I'm not going to run and hide while it's able to walk freely!"_  Thor protested, glaring at the other three.

"I'm getting all choked up," Tony teased as someone handed him a hot cup of coffee. "I mean, they're right, they should get out of there, but- Wait, Bruce." Sitting up more, Tony looked across the room to see the other pods. "Why's he unconscious?" Tony demanded as he looked from his friend to Fury.

"There was a minor issue with Doctor Banner; we wanted to avoid him changing."

"So you sedated him?" Tony's eyebrows furrowed as he took a sip.

"He should be coming-to soon. Perhaps  _you'll_  be able to keep him calm."

"Was he angry about the simulation?"

"Just a little," Bruce said quietly as he rubbed his forehead. Opening his eyes, he slowly sat up, another nurse rushing forwards to check him.

"Brucie!" Tony raised his coffee mug slightly and smiled at him. "Nice to have you back in the land of the living!"

"Except we both died," Bruce chuckled softly as he put his glasses on. Stopping, he blinked and looked at Tony. "Wait, how did  _you_  die?"

"Oh, it was… Kind of... 'Messy,'" Tony grimaced. "But,  _basically_ , I had my insides become outsides."

"That's… Disgusting."

"Well hey, I had to  _watch_  your arms get torn off!"

"Fair enough, okay, yeah…"

_"Wait, Thor! Stop!"_

"Woah, woah, what'd we miss? What'd we miss?" Tony quickly turned his attention back to the screens as he heard Tasha shouting. Sipping his coffee, he glanced over at Bruce as he walked over to the pod Tony was sitting in and climbed up to sit with him.

"Thor's run ahead of everyone and disappeared," Fury answered, one hand to his mouth, the other crossed over his front. "Not much else has happened."

"Ugh,  _boring_ ," Tony scoffed as he made room for Bruce, sitting with his legs crossed.

* * *

Panting softly as he came to a stop at a dead-end, Clint span around, looking for Thor.

"Where'd he go?! We  _saw him_  run up to this floor! This  _hallway_ , even!"

"Into an apartment, maybe?" Steve jogged around a corner and down the hall towards Clint.

"But which  _one_? This hall alone has 10 doors," Tasha quickly caught her breath as she joined the boys.

"We're just going to have to  _look_ ," Steve walked up to one of the doors, raising a fist to knock on it.

"Oh, all the people who live here will  _love_  that," Clint commented. "Getting woken up this early in the morning by a couple of people looking for someone who might not even be in their apartment?"

"It's the only lead we've got, Barton," he glared slightly as he knocked on the door, only to have it immediately open as if the handle hadn't been latched shut. Inside the apartment, every light was shining bright red, the doors, cabinets and drawers to everything left wide open. Hesitating, Steve exhaled sharply before cautiously walking inside, Clint and Tasha following close behind.

_("Oh, yeah, that's a good idea, guys. This place isn't suspicious at aaaaaaaaall," Tony rolled his eyes. Bruce nudged his shoulder softly with his own._

_"That's the point! They have to look in their purely for the fact that it is so suspicious!"_

_"It's still a stupid idea, one of them is gonna get killed.")_

"Thor!" Steve whispered loudly, not wanting to make too much noise- just in case. The trio made their way slowly through the main room of the apartment, all splitting up to look in different rooms.

"This place looks completely deserted," Clint whispered to the others. "Like no one lives here. There's  _nothing_. No furniture, no stuff…"

"No  _Thor_ ," Tasha noted as the three regrouped in the main room.

"Okay… So now what?" Clint glanced around, making sure to keep his guard up.

"Now we look through  _all the other_  apartments until we find him. We're  _not_  losing another friend." Steve said sternly as he looked at the other two.

"Should we keep going one apartment at a time? Or each check a different one?" Tasha looked from Steve to Clint.

"Well, seeing as  _it wants_  us separated to take us out... " Clint cocked a brow and Steve sighed softly.

"Despite how time consuming it'll be, we should stick to staying in the same apartment."

"No more splitting up," Clint agreed as Tasha pressed her lips together before speaking.

"Alright, we're wasting time. Let's just find Thor and get  _out_."

* * *

Looking over at Thor's screen, Tony let out a giggle as he sipped his coffee.

"Oh, man," he grinned at Bruce. "They're  _never_  going to find him!"


	20. Coffee Break

"Oh, man," Tony grinned at Bruce. "They're  _never_  going to find him!"

"Oh, cmon Tony, they've got a cha-" Bruce stopped short as he looked over at Thor's screen. "Mm. Yeah," Reaching over and taking Tony's coffee, he took a sip and grimaced at the taste. "They're _never_  going to find him... Hey, can I get a coffee, too?" Bruce asked as Tony snatched it back from him. "3 creams and 2 sugars, please?"

* * *

"What the hell? What is this?" Clint slowly stepped through the front door of an apartment, about 20 reflections of himself staring back at him. Covering every wall of the first room were mirrors of varying shapes and sizes; some with decorative frames in different shades of brown and black, others cracked and others without any frame at all. Leaning against the covered walls were even more mirrors and empty frames, their broken glass scattered around the floor.

"Because  _this_  is completely normal," Steve commented as he stepped inside behind Clint. Walking across the broken glass, he slowly made his way into the next room. "Uhhh."

(" _Well, Steve, you_ did  _just make a sarcastic comment about how normal it was," Tony pointed out and Bruce snorted while taking a sip of coffee, spilling a little on the bed._

_"Oh, no, that's_ much  _better.")_

The room Steve had walked into had papers plastered to the walls, covering them floor to ceiling. On each piece of paper were words scribbled down and poor drawings that looked like they could be of the creature.

"Looks like someone could use a new decorator," Tasha walked into the room and up to one of the walls, looking more closely at the drawings and writings.

"What're you guys-woooah! Alright, that's only super creepy," Clint followed Natasha inside, glancing at Steve.

"Alright, Thor clearly isn't in here, so lets-"

"No, no, Steve, hang on," Tasha waved a hand dismissively at him. "Come look at some of these."

"What are they?" He asked as he walked over to the wall next to Tasha.

" _Really_  super creepy?"

" _Clint_ ," Tasha warned, glancing at him.

"Well they  _are_!"

"They're drawing- and writing about the creature," Steve said quietly. " _They're about the creature._ "

_("Oh! Oh quick, look at what's going on with Thor!" Bruce pointed towards Thor's screen as he took a sip of coffee excitedly causing Tony to jump slightly at the sudden noise._

_"Ooooh, what what what?")_

_"What is this?!"_ Thor stood locked inside a glass shower, banging his fists against the glass, unable to open or break it. Glaring, he took a step back and rammed his shoulder against the glass, still unable to even crack it. After a few moments, the shower came to life, spitting extremely hot water out at Thor. Jumping back away from the water quickly, Thor grimaced. Quickly trying to break down all the shower walls and touching the water as little as possible, Thor began to sweat, the steam from the water trapped inside the shower. Breathing heavily, He paused, taking a moment to assess the situation. The moment he stopped moving, the water that splashed onto his skin began to burn, leaving dark red marks. Inhaling sharply, Thor pressed his back to the wall opposite where the water was coming from. Quickly glancing at the still-open bathroom door, he yelled out for help.

"Is anyone there?! I can't get the door open!" The water at the bottom of the shower began to pool at his ankles, and he struggled to ignore the severe burning sensation in his feet. "Can anybody hear me?!" He tried telling again. The water began rising quicker and his breath got heavier as the air became more and more hot and thick. (God if that isn't the biggest innuendo idk what is bro.) "Anybody!" Thor yelled again, his voice cracking slightly, causing him to start coughing. Looking over at the door again, he saw the creature standing in the doorway. Eyes immediately narrowing, he tried breaking the shower door down again, causing a slow smile to spread across the creature's face. " _Let me out of here, creature!"_

_"_ Now _... Why would I do that?"_ The creature practically purred back at Thor as it walked slowly into the room.

(" _Man, that thing is_ seriously  _ugly," Tony commented, causing Bruce to laugh._

_"Really? I thought it was kinda cute.")_

"Fight me fairly! See if you're still able to best me!"

_("Naaahhhhh. How about terrifying? We can agree on that, right?"_

_"How'd they even come up with that thing?")_

_"_ But this is so much more...  _Entertaining_ ," the creature chuckled deeply.

_("Fury mentioned it came from our imaginations," Tony informed him, raising his eyebrows._

_"Just one of us?" Bruce glanced at him curiously for a moment before looking back at Thor's screen. "Or kind of a combined thing?"_

_"Actually, he didn't say... I never really thought about it," Tony glanced around to find Fury, but he wasn't in the room.)_

The water continued to rise, now reaching Thor's hips. After a few moments, he lost all feeling in his legs, causing Thor to stumble forwards against the glass of the shower wall. Struggling to get a good grip anywhere to keep himself up, Thor quickly found himself slipping.

"F...ight... Me... With some  _honor_ ," he managed to get out between coughs and wheezes, the water surrounding his chest as he slipped completely under the water.

* * *

 

"Heyyyy buddyyyy, how's it going?" Tony asked Thor slowly, taking a sip of his coffee. Groaning softly as he sat up, Thor put a hand to his head.

"What is this? Where are we?" Looking around, his brow furrowed. "Surely this cannot be Valhalla?"

"Oh, no, no, we're in the tower," Bruce informed him quickly, taking a big drink of his own coffee.

"What you were just in is called a 'simulation'," Fury told him, stepping forwards. "What that means is-"

"I'm aware of what a simulation is, but thank you," Thor waved a hand dismissively as he rubbed his temples gently, quickly getting a headache.

"And we've gotta stay in here until everyone else dies," Tony sighed dramatically as he looked back at the screens. "So, ask for a snack, a drink... A couple of Tylenol or whatever you... Would take for your head in your shiny cloud palace... We may be here for a while, yet." Leaning over a little towards Bruce, he whispered. "Told you they'd never find him."

 

 


	21. Vidunder

"They're drawings- and writings about the creature," Steve said quietly. " _They're about the creature."_

"This makes so much sense!" Clint exclaimed, reading and rereading the pages he held in his hands, torn from the wall. "Well, it doesn't make _any sense what-so-ever_ , but this makes so much sense!"

"It can _alter reality_ ," Tasha nodded, taking one of the pages from Clint and handing him a new one from her small stack. "It's not going to make much sense."

"Do we have a name for it yet?" Steve asked, glancing at the now-shut door before leafing through the pages in his hands. "So we can stop calling it 'the creature'?"

"Not yet."

"It says here that it can only be killed by fire," Tasha's eyebrows came together. "How are we supposed to manage that with nothing on us?"

"Oooh!" Clint quickly walked over to the other two, ignoring Tasha, holding one paper up. "Okay, here it talks about how it can 'copy' a human's skin and wear it- that's disgusting- and basically walk around pretending to be them. Steve! That explains how you were suddenly on the stairs and then you were peeling off but still alive!" Steve slowly looked from the paper to Clint, looking both disgusted and horrified.

"... _What_?" Blinking, it dawned on Clint that he had no idea the creature had used Steve to try and trick them.

"Oh! Oh that's right! You were- Okay. So when me 'n Tony 'n Bruce 'n Thor were coming down from Tasha's apartment, I bumped into 'you' on the stairs, but it turned out to actually be the creature- _that explains the stairs from hell, too!_ "

"Clint. _Focus_ ," Tasha told him slowly.

"Sorry! Okay, so we bumped into you, but it was the creature, and then the creature ran off and your skin was like. Peeling off onto the floor in a massive pile of blood and hair and it was disgusting. I never really thought about how that worked after we found out you were alive still…" Eyebrows furrowing slightly, Clint read the paper again, thinking.

_("So, ask for a snack, a drink… A couple of Tylenol or whatever you… Would take for your head in your shiny cloud palace… We may be here for a while yet," Leaning over a little towards Bruce, Tony whispered. "Told you they'd never find him.")_

"And 'stairs from hell'?" Steve asked, his eyebrows raised at Clint.

"Mhmm. No matter which way you went, up or down, you'd always end up exactly where you started on the god damned second floor."

"That's annoying," Tasha observed, a small smirk crossing her lips. "How many times did you use the stairs before realizing it wasn't going to work?"

" _Um_ , like, twice," Clint said defensively.

_("Try closer to 10," Tony snorted.)_

"Once up and once down."

"Mmmmmmhm."

_("I don't know," Bruce grinned slightly. "I'd say it was closer to 15 or 20.")_

" _Anyways_ ," Clint said slightly louder. "We should get moving. We still haven't found Thor."

_("They were looking for me?" Thor wondered aloud._

" _Oh, yeah," Bruce nodded, glancing over at him. "They followed you up to this floor that they're on and you disappeared."_

" _And ever since then they've been trying to find you," Tony added._

" _Going through different apartments…"_

" _Which, if these apartments are accurate to real life, some of your neighbors have some_ serious _explaining to do."_

" _Like there was this one! There was no furniture anywhere. All the lights were red," Bruce told him, his eyebrows raised as he took a sip of his coffee._

" _There was another where the entire bathroom floor was_ covered _in blood."_

" _This one's got the creepy room with all the drawings. And in the main room-"_

" _It's covered in mirrors! Like what's with that?!"_

" _Maybe they're as obsessed with themselves as you are, Tony," Bruce winked, taking another drink to hide his grin.)_

"I found a name!" Steve looked between the two of them.

_("Shhhh!" Thor hushed them and turned back to the screens, very interested in the creature's identity.)_

"You're _still_ looking at those papers?" Clint glanced back at Steve as they made their way through the rest of the apartment, Clint in front, Tasha in back and Steve between them.

"Well it's payed off, hasn't it? Now we know: it's called a…" Eyebrows furrowing, Steve attempted to sound the word out. "Vih… Vee...doon…"

"Oh, hand it over," Tasha snatched the page from Steve's hands and read easily. "Vidunder."

"I wonder what it means?" Clint glanced behind his shoulder for a moment to look at the others.

 _("Really," Thor stared forwards at the screens. "'Vidunder.' You_ must _be_ joking _."_

" _Why?" Bruce looked over at him, confused._

" _What's it mean?" Sighing heavily, Thor glanced up at the ceiling before looking at the pair._

" _It means… 'Monster.'"_

" _...Seriously.")_

"Not sure," Tasha shrugged.

"Well, _whatever it means_ , we know what to call it now," Steve took the paper back from Tasha. "And Thor isn't in this apartment either: we should move on to the next one."

"Agreed," Clint nodded.

 _("Hey! Fury!" Tony called out, glancing behind all the pods at a one-way window that stretched out across most of the back wall. "Was this you? Naming the fucking thing '_ monster' _?"_

" _The man who went through and developed the final design did," Fury's voice sounded over a loudspeaker into the room. "He thought it would be funny."_

" _Oh, yes," Thor agreed sarcastically. "Hilarious."_

" _Awwwe, look at you!" Tony grinned. "You can be sarcastic!" Thor slowly looked over at Tony, one eyebrow cocked._

" _I have spent thousands of years with Loki and you think I haven't mastered the art of sarcasm?"_

" _...Good point.")_

They walked into the next apartment cautiously and looked around.

"This... Is really creepy," Clint said slowly. Looking around the entrance of the apartment, everything looked… Normal. As though there very well could be a small family asleep in the other room.

"Maybe we should… Stay quiet? Just in case?" Tasha shrugged, her eyebrows slightly furrowed as she looked from the room to the boys.

"Maybe… We should still make it quick and get out of here, though."

"Agreed."

"Here, I'll check the closet over here," Steve pointed slightly and glanced around the room again.

"I've got the hallway," Tasha hurried out of the room and Clint looked around at the different doorways.

"Uhhhh I'veeee gottttt… That room?" Walking over, Clint left the room as Steve opened the door to the closet. Almost immediately as the door opened, several large hands lunged forwards at Steve, their sharp boned fingers going straight through his body. Before he so much as had the chance to scream out, he was yanked roughly into the closet, the door slamming shut behind him.

* * *

"Is he awake yet?"

"Does he _look_ awake?"

"Tony-"

"No? Then I don't think he's awake."

"He's awake," Steve informed them groggily, slowly sitting up, rubbing his eyes gently with his fingers. Bruce gave Tony a satisfied smirk and turned his attention to Steve, hopping off the pod and walking over.

"How're you feeling?"

"What is this? What's going on?" Steve wasted no time as he opened his eyes and looked around the room.

"We've been in a computer simulation for the past 15 hours or so," Tony told him, glancing back at the one-way window. "Fury's 'great' idea to get us to work as a team in the face of death."

"Like we don't face that all the time?" Steve raised an eyebrow as he followed Tony's gaze.

"That's what I said!" Bruce offered, walking back to Tony's pod and sitting back down.

"Now we get to wait and watch as the other two finish the simulation," Thor told him, laying back down with his arms crossed behind his head, his feet propped up on the end of his pod.

"You don't seem too interested," Steve looked over at Thor before looking at the screens. "So there was a screen for each of us?"

"And they go out once that person 'dies'," Bruce nodded.

"Ahh," Steve nodded slowly, his eyebrows furrowing. "Now, how the hell did Fury get us into these pods?"

"He has declined to share that information," Thor said, his annoyance clear in his tone. The four remained in silence for a few moments before Steve's head whipped back to look at Thor.

" _Wait, when did you die?!"_ Blinking a few times, Thor turned his head to look at him.

"20 minutes ago, I believe?" His eyes flicked towards Bruce and Tony for confirmation.

"That sounds about right," Tony agreed and Bruce nodded.

"Something like that."

"And we were still… _They're_ still…"

"Waste of time, now," Tony watched the screens as Clint and Tasha made their ways back to the entrance of the apartment.

* * *

"Steve?" Clint said as soon as he reached the entrance. Looking around, his eyebrows slowly came together. "Steve!"

"What's going on?" Tasha said quickly as she made her way to Clint. "Where is he?"

"Wasn't he just checking the _closet_?" Rushing over to the closet and opening the door, Clint looked inside. Moving aside some coats and stooping down to look under them and around the floor, he stood up straight and closed the door. "It's only coats and shoes."  
"Maybe he went to look at a different room?" Tasha wondered out loud.

"There were only two ways to go- the way you went and the way I went."

"He probably went to a different apartment, then."

(" _Did not," Steve said defensively. "We were sticking together.")_

"Why _would_ he? We said we were sticking _together_ this time," Clint said, getting more and more annoyed at the whole situation.

_("See?"_

" _Yeah, we probably should have done that the whole time," Bruce side-eyed Tony. "You know, like we_ said _we were going to."  
_ " _Alright, Mister Grumpy-Pants, what's done is done…")_

"I _don't know, Clint_ ," Tasha glared at him. "But instead of _arguing_ , we should be _leaving_ and _looking for him_ , don't you think?" Spinning on her heel, she went to the door and opened it, looking both ways down the hall before leaving the apartment. Grumbling after her, Clint followed, shutting the door quietly behind him as they made their way down the hall to the next apartment.

" _Great_ ," he muttered under his breath. "Now we've got _two_ people missing." Reaching the next door, it only took Tasha a few seconds to get the lock open. Opening the door slowly, she looked inside cautiously. After a few seconds, she opened the door wider and walked inside, looking around the room.

"Another empty one," she observed as Clint followed her inside and closed the door.

"Good," Clint said quickly as he made his way through the main room. "Less to get distracted by." Going to the opposite end of the apartment, Tasha sighed softly, knowing that both Thor and Steve were probably already dead.

"We're wasting our time," she whispered to herself, wanting to just get Clint and get out of the building while they still could. Of course she cared about the others and wished they could find them, but it was seeming more and more impossible.

Walking into a dark room, Clint almost immediately stumbled forwards and landed face-first onto a bed.

"Wh- Alright." Shaking his head, he knelt down on the mattress, his hand landing on something hard and metal. Blinking a few times, he squinted more, trying to make out what it was. Picking it up slowly and cautiously, his fingers instantly recognized that it was a gun that he now held in his hands. A grin slowly spread across his face as he scooted backwards off the bed and stood up. Quickly 'scanning' the dark room (and not being able to see anything at all), Clint jogged out of the room, ecstatic there was now a weapon to kill the Vidunder with, not remembering that it could only be killed with fire.

"Hey, Tash-" Stopping dead, Clint saw the Vidunder standing between him and Natasha, her back to them both as she opened the door to a closet.

"Yeah?" She asked as she closed the closet door again, suddenly suspicious as to why he cut himself off. Turning around, she jumped back as she saw the Vidunder, her back hitting the door behind her. Looking between the two of them, the Vidunder grinned. Eyes flicking quickly between the Vidunder and Clint, Tasha shouted at Clint. "Where did y- nevermind, _shoot it!_ "

" _You think that you can kill me?"_ The creature seemed to purr at the two of them. " _I would_ love _to see you try…"_

After a few seconds, Clint seemed to regain control of his body.

"I'll do more than _try_!" Clint shouted, aiming the gun.

 _("Bad idea,"_ Steve crossed his arms, still irritated, his eyebrows raised.

" _But he never misses!"_

" _With a bow and arrow," Steve pointed out.)_

The second the gun fired, the Vidunder vanished out of sight.

_("Welp.")_

The bullet hitting her directly in the middle of the forehead, Tasha slid against the door to the ground, her eyes staring forwards. Breath catching in his throat, Clint stared wide-eyed as her body fell. The gun dropping from his hand, he took off running.

" _TASHA!_ "

* * *

Groaning softly, Natasha sat up, rubbing her forehead. Slowly opening her eyes, she looked around the room to see Tony, Bruce, Thor, Steve and Fury all watching her silently. Taking a step forwards, a clipboard in his hand, Fury spoke.

"Romanoff," he began, but was cut off.

"What is this? Where are we? _What's going on_?" Tasha's eyes narrowed as she looked between everyone, eventually watching Fury closely.

"If I could go on _uninterrupted_ ," he gave her a look and crossed his arms over his chest. "You've spent the last couple hours in a simulation testing your ability to work- without any weapons or powers- as a team in the face of certain death."

"A _simulation?_ " She repeated, swinging her legs over the side of her pod, fingers digging into the edge. "You mean to tell me that you somehow got us all into these things and-"

"There was no harm done!" Tony piped in, glancing between Tasha and Fury.

"Maybe a tiny bit of _psychological_ damage, but-" Bruce tried but was cut short.

" _Quiet,_ " she ordered and the boys immediately fell silent. Sliding off of the pod, she walked up to Fury, pointing directly into his face. "You _never_ \- _ever_ do this to me again. Am I understood, Nick?" Her voice was deadly and quiet as she glared at the man in front of her. Watching her, Fury remained silent, turning and walking out of the room after a few moments. Looking over at the others, Natasha remained silent, her arms crossed.

"If you-" Tony started, but was cut off by a scream coming from the last lit monitor.

" _NATASHA!"_


	22. Alone

"N...Natasha…" Clint whimpered out as he cradled the dead woman's body. Choking back a sob, he swallowed hard, the lump in his throat refusing to leave. "God… _Please_ … _No…_ " As he sat, a low, dark laugh slowly began to fill the room.

" _Did you really think… That I would let her live? Clint Barton…"_ Ignoring the voice, Clint held Natasha closer to him, as if trying to protect her from the Vidunder. His eyes tightly closed, he tried to pretend everything was still okay, that everything was normal. " _She_ had _to die…"_ Vidunder continued, clearly taking pleasure from his suffering. " _Just like Dr. Banner. Anthony Stark. Thor Odinson. Steven Rogers. They all_ had _to die… Just like you..."_ Clint's chin was roughly brought up, bringing him face to face with the creature. "Have… _To die…"_ The Vidunder's almost non-existent lips spread into a grin, showing its sharp teeth, the skin around its mouth cracking up the rest of its face. Reaching to grab its thin neck quickly, Clint's hand only met the air as the thing disappeared once more. " _All… Alone…_ "

"W…" Clint slowly and gently set Natasha down, wiping tears off his cheek and quickly looking around the room, his brow furrowed. "Thor. Steve. They're dead?"

Silence.

" _Answer me, you fuck!_ " Clint shouted, getting to his feet, using the wall to keep himself stable as he continued to look around the apartment, looking anywhere but at Natasha below him.

Still, the creature remained silent. Face twitching slightly, Clint's eyes narrowed. Stepping around Tasha, Clint jogged across the floor and grabbed the gun, aiming it around the room. "I'm gonna kill you," he told it, his voice wild and thick. "I'm going to _fucking kill you_."

" _How I like it when you think you're in control,"_ Vidunder laughed again. Immediately firing multiple times in the direction its voice came from, he heard something drop to the floor. Running over towards the noise, he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"Damn it!"

" _You missed me,_ " a whisper came from directly behind his ear and he spun around, firing once again into nothing but the open air. Firing one more time in frustration, he wasted the last bullet. Growling, he threw the gun to the floor, clenching his fists tightly. Slowly, the front door of the apartment swung open, a flickering warm light coming from the hallway, as though there were a fireplace directly across from the door. " _Come out and play, Clint."_ Without even thinking, Clint took off running into the hallway.

Looking around the hall, he only saw darkness.

" _Where are you?!"_ he shouted, only to have the darkness seem to swallow his words. As soon as they left his mouth, they disappeared into silence. Eyebrows furrowing, he turned his hearing aids up, but there was nothing. As he began making his way down the hall, only the sounds of his feet against the carpeted floor and his breathing met his ears.

"Clint," a voice called to him from the darkness behind him. Spinning around, Clint watched as Bruce walked towards him, his eyebrows furrowed, his feeling of betrayal clear through his features.

"B… _Bruce?_ " Clint stuttered, his eyes widened. " But… H- _How_?!"

"Clint, why'd you do it?"

"Why'd I do _what_?" he asked quickly, trying to figure out what was going on.

"You killed me," Bruce told him, his eyebrows furrowing more as he took another step forwards. "It's _your fault._ "

"What? No! No, I-"

"Was I really that annoying to you that you had to kill me?" A second voice interrupted Clint, coming from behind Bruce as Tony stepped forwards, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Tony, I didn't-"

"You're the one who texted us," Bruce said, glancing at Tony before looking at Clint again.

"You're the one who told us to come," Tony added.

"No, but you-" Clint tried again, his heart racing, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

"It's _your fault_."

"Why, Clint?" A third voice asked. Jumping slightly, Clint looked over just in time to watch Steve step out of the darkness, his arms crossed. Clint took another step back, his back hitting the wall behind him.

"W-What?" the panic beginning to show in his voice as he stared at Steve.

"Why'd you kill me?"

"B-But I didn't! I didn't!" Clint insisted. "I- We were looking through the apartments and you were just suddenly gone, I didn't-"

"If it wasn't for you, I'd still be asleep at home," Steve reminded him, his skin suddenly greying, blood spilling out of his mouth as he spoke, multiple large red stains appearing over his chest. "If you hadn't woken me up, I'd still be alive. It's all your fault."

"Why'd you do it, Clint?" Bruce asked again, his arms missing from his body, blood covering his torso and dripping down his legs onto the floor. "We're _all dead_ because of _you_."

"All of us," Tony agreed, his stomach torn open, his intestines now spilling out, some held in his arms and some dangling to the floor, blood pooling around his feet.

"I was supposed to live for _thousands_ of years longer," Thor's voice added as he walked from the shadows, his body soaking wet, his hair still dripping. "Now every one of those years has been taken away: thanks to your actions." The skin on his chest, legs and arms was badly burned, holes in some places showing through his arm to the muscles and bones, his clothing seeming to also have been burned away in most places. Flinching slightly at the mere sight of Thor, Clint looked away, swallowing hard.

"N-No! No it- I didn't-"

"Clint," a woman's voice sounded softly from the darkness causing Clint's heart to nearly stop. As she stepped forwards between Tony and Bruce, Clint had to use the wall for support as he stared wide-eyed at Natasha Romanoff.

"T...T-Tasha?" He questioned meekly, his body trembling. Walking right in front of him, she stopped, watching him closely.

"Clint," she said again, her expression warm, a small smile on her lips. It was as though Clint had in that moment completely forgotten how to speak. He knew what he wanted to say. He knew he wanted to apologize for what had happened, how he would give _anything_ to change it, but he couldn't find the words. Natasha's expression suddenly changed from the sweet, kindness to a stone cold glare. "Why did you kill me?" She asked him, her tone demanding. " _Why did you kill me_?" Natasha began repeating the phrase over and over, her voice getting more and more harsh each time, the others all joining in. A mark slowly appeared on her forehead and began to grow, and as Clint's eyes flicked up to it, he immediately recognized it was the bullet wound. " _Answer me! Tell me why you killed me!"_

Clint didn't know what to do. So, he did the only thing that seemed rational to him: he covered his ears and sank to the floor, his back riding against the wall.

"Stop it! Stop it- you're not real!" He yelled back, his eyes closing tightly. "You're all dead! None of you are real!"

"This is getting out of hand," Tasha said, her voice leveled, her glare directed at Fury.

"This isn't a 'training exercise' anymore, it's _torture_ ," Bruce agreed quickly, his eyebrows furrowed as he stood next to Natasha. One by one the members of the team got to their feet and stood next to Natasha as she crossed her arms.

"Fury," Steve's eyes were narrowed. "You need to stop this."

"I can't do that," Fury told them slowly, his eyebrow raised.

"Why _not_?" Tasha demanded, the urge to smash something through Fury's face growing with every passing second.

"As I explained earlier," Fury kept his gaze on Natasha. "If we end the simulation before its _finished_ , Barton will remain in the exact state he's in now."

"So what you're saying is-"

"He'll be in a coma. With everything going on in the simulation continuing in his head." Stopping and taking a small step back, Tasha took a deep breath in, releasing it slowly as she looked at Clint's pod.

"What can we do?" Her voice was quieter. Softer.

"There's nothing we can do other than… Wait for it to kill him," Fury stuffed a hand in his pocket. "Or for Clint to kill it." No one moved, no one spoke; the only noises coming from the machines surrounding Clint's pod, and Clint's screen.

" _You're all dead! None of you are real!"_

Silence.

Slowly realizing that he was once again surrounded by silence, Clint hesitantly opened his eyes. Uncovering his ears and raising his head to look around, he discovered he was alone. Letting out a slow, shaky breath, he wiped away the tears that were streaming down his cheeks.

"Okay," he said out loud, his voice hoarse. " _Okay_. It… It's all… Okay… Clint, it's just… It's just the thing messing with your head."

" _Clint!_ " Tasha's voice rang out again through the hall. For a second, he almost ran towards it. He almost forgot again that she was gone. _That he killed her. "Clint!"_ The voice called again, more urgently, seeming as though it was coming closer.

"No," Clint pleaded, turning on his heels and taking off down the hall away from the voice. "Not again!" As he ran down the hall blindly, he didn't notice as the air quickly became colder. He also didn't notice his breath become visible as he went. Slowing, he shivered, his hands going to rub his freezing arms. Coughing a few times, he glanced behind him as though Natasha would be following. Deciding he wasn't followed, he continued forwards. "Just have to get out… Just have to get out…" he repeated to himself over and over, forgetting about his anger and hatred towards the creature he swore to kill. "...Out. Out. Out. Out…" Swearing as he walked straight into a wall, he turned, blinking slowly when he saw a distant white light down the next hall. "What the hell…?" He was trembling from the cold and sick of the dark. Nodding once to himself, he continued as quickly as his frozen legs would let him towards the light. Almost smiling to himself as it got closer, he slowed to a stop as he walked into the normally lit lobby of the apartment complex. Trying not to think about it too much, Clint made a bee-line for the front door. Grabbing the handle, he yanked at it, only to find it locked. " _Fuck._ " A low laugh filled the room and Clint slowly turned around to come face to face with the Vidunder.

" _Clint… Barton…"_ it grinned at him as Clint glared back.

"Why? _Why won't you let me just leave?!"_ he roared, his fists clenching tightly. Laughing loudly, the creature leaned back to reach its full height.

" _I offer you your freedom,_ " it told him simply. Blinking, Clint looked up at the thing, clearly confused.

"W...hat?" He asked dumbly.

" _I offer youuu… Your freedom…_ If… _You can kill me,_ " the Vidunder cackled. Pausing a moment, Clint looked around the lobby quickly for any sort of weapon. Darting across the room, he grabbed the first thing he could find: a mop from a near-by janitor's bucket. Walking back slowly towards the Vidunder, handle of the mop aimed at the creature, Clint only recognized two things.

First, he was going to much, he knew.

But, he also knew that he would never go down without a hell of a fight. That wasn't his 'style'.

"Alright…" Clint said slowly, eyeing up the creature. "So I beat you, I go free. Right?"

" _If you can…"_ it grinned widely.

"No funny business? No 'strings attached'? Just free to leave?"

" _Of courssssse._ "

"Okay," Clint readied himself, spinning the mop in his hands before aiming it at the Vidunder again. "Game on." Lunging towards the thing, Clint swung at it. Moving faster than Clint's eyes could even follow, the Vidunder dodged the attack, the grin never once leaving its face. Swinging again, the creature once again dodged before Clint even realized what happened. Growling in frustration, Clint tried again, only to be lifted up by his neck several feet into the air.

Coughing and pausing a moment, Clint swung the mop again, this time hitting the Vidunder in the side of its ribs. Screeching, the creature threw him across the room and hard against a wall. Grunting loudly, Clint slowly leaned up on his elbow, spitting blood onto the tile floor. Bruised, battered and exhausted from the night's events, Clint found himself laughing.

"You were never going to let me go," he observed, his hand finding the mop again. "..Where you?"

" _Figured that outtttt, have youuuu?"_ The Vidunder cackled again, stepping towards Clint. Slowly getting to his feet, Clint used the wall to help him take a running start at the creature, missing on purpose before hitting it again square in the back. Hissing loudly, the Vidunder backhanded Clint with a force that sent him flying again. " _Time'ssssss up, Clint Barton…"_

Skidding and rolling across the floor, Clint couldn't stop coughing, eventually finding blood splattered on his arm and hand from the coughing fit. Something in his brain snapped and he looked from the creature to the mop. Clumsily and as quickly as he could scrambling to his feet, he ran and grabbed the broom.

" _I'll see you in_ hell _,"_ he said harshly before taking the hilt of the mop and ramming it as hard as he could through one of his eye sockets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READER QUESTION TIME: (May or may not also be a set up for something else/the next chapter)
> 
> If the team were to actually go into a simulation knowing its a sim, what would you like to see them do? Stranded powerless on a deserted island? In a world with no power? Something scary? Funny? Tell me what you think! -E


	23. The End

The heart rate monitor connected to Clint was beeping fast. It was only natural, though. Even through his body wasn’t moving, his mind  _ very _ active. No one in the room had spoken in minutes, but it had felt like years. After all, everyone was watching the screens, half of them holding their breath in anticipation to see what was going to happen.

“He’s going to die,” Bruce piped up finally, his words almost piercing despite how quiet his voice was. There was more silence.

“He knows,” Natasha told them softly, no emotion showing through on her face, her arms tightly crossed and resting on her stomach.

“He knows?” Thor asked, not bothering to look at her, his eyes glued to the screen.

“Of course he knows,” Tony said, almost rolling his eyes. “How could he not know? The rest of us gone, and he’s fighting the thing using a  _ mop? _ ”

“That’s more than any of us had,” Steve pointed out, grimacing slightly as Clint was flung across the room and into a wall.

“Well,  _ luckily _ , this’ll all be over soon, and we’ll all be able to leave,” Tony commented, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“I guess you’re right,? Steve sighed softly. “Still…”

_ “You were never going to let me go,” Clint said, his hand finding his mop after having dropped it. _

_ “Figured that outttt, have youuuu?” The Vidunder cackled, stepping towards Clint. _

“I mean it didn’t really take a genius,” Tony crossed his arms, immediately being shushed by Bruce.

_ Slowly getting to his feet, Clint used the wall to help him take a running start at the creature, missing on purpose before hitting it again square in the back. Hissing loudly, the Vidunder backhanded Clint with a force that sent him flying a second time. _

“Oooh, that probably stings a little,” Steve said, making a face.

_ “Time’ssssss up, Clint Barton…” Skidding and rolling across the floor, Clint couldn’t stop coughing, eventually finding blood splattered on his arm and hand from the coughing fit. Finally snapping, he looked from the creature to the mop, a wild look in his eyes. Clumsily and as quickly as he could manage, he scrambled to his feet and ran to grab the broom again. _

“What’s he--” Tasha began, her eyes squinting slightly as the beeping in the room became even quicker.

_ “I’ll see you in  _ hell, _ ” Clint said harshly before taking the hilt of the mop and ramming it as hard as he could through one of his eye sockets. _

“--d..doing…” Tasha's eyes widened and Bruce gasped softly. Almost immediately the rapid beeping turned into a single note, causing everyone’s heads to snap in the direction of Clint’s pod. The final screen turned to static as several people rushed into the room. “Clint?” Tasha asked immediately, not expecting a response, but still praying she’d get one.

“ _ Hold on a minute--!’  _ Steve yelled above the new people in the room and the static noise that was now playing through the speakers. “I thought this was supposed to be safe?!”

“What’s going on?!” Thor jumped up from where he had been sitting in his own pod.

“Sir, you need to move out of the way,” one of the new people told Thor firmly, placing a hand in front of his chest. “Sir,  _ please, move out of the way, we need to get through here.” _

More people rushed into the room, unplugging things and plugging them into new places and eventually quickly wheeling Clint’s entire pod out of the room.

“Hey,  _ wait!” _ Steve shouted as he followed after them, Thor, Tony and Bruce quickly tailing behind. After a few seconds, only Natasha remained in the room, silent and unmoving: barely even blinking. Eventually her eyes slowly moved from the static screen to the spot Clint’s pod had been and then even slower across the room. Slowly sliding back more to fully sit on her pod, she sat in silence, not wanting to know what was happening to Clint, not even really wanting to know if her best friend was alive. What if he wasn’t? What would she do? Would she stay with SHIELD? With the Avengers? She had no idea.

It was hours before someone finally came back into the room.

“ _ There you are, _ ” Steve said quietly, walking up to where she was still sat. “He’s okay. Tasha, Clint’s alright.” He sounded exhausted, but genuinely relieved, so he was probably telling the truth.

“Is he?” Natasha asked, her voice cracking slightly from not being used for so long.

“Why don’t you come and see him? He’s been asleep for a little while, but he might wake up for you…” Staring forwards at the floor, Natasha slowly nodded her head and slid off of the pod, walking to the door, Steve immediately behind her. As they left the room empty, neither of them saw the Vidunder, standing in the corner next to the final screen as it finally shut off, a grin stretched across its face.

 

***

 

“ _ Natasha!” _ Bolting upright in bed, Clint gasped softly, clutching his chest tightly. His eyes wide, he looked around quickly, seeing Tasha stirring softly from her sleep and opening her eyes to look at him. What started as a soft confusion almost immediately sobered into a look of recognition as she sat up quickly, one hand going to Clint’s back, the other finding of his hands.

“Clint?” Her voice was soft and tender as she watched him, her other hand rubbing his back slowly. “Clint, it was just another nightmare, okay? You’re awake, you’re okay, you’re safe…” Natasha repeated quietly over and over as he leaned against her, slowly letting himself relax. It had been three months since that damned simulation. Three months. Shouldn’t he be over it by now? Over the nightmares, over the uneasy feelings? Sometimes when he was alone, he could swear he’d still catch glimpses of the Vidunder around the corner or just outside a window. 

“I keep… I keep just seeing you. I keep seeing you lying there on the ground with a hole in your head I keep seeing that  _ thing _ I just…” Groaning softly, he let his eyes close again. “I just want this shit to  _ stop.” _

_ “ _ I know you do, Clint,” Tasha sighed softly, her warm breath hitting his neck gently as she continued rubbing his back. “I know.”

 

***

 

“You’re sure you’re ready to do this?” Tasha asked quietly as she made her way with Clint to the simulation center.

“Tasha, it’s been half a year,” Clint gave her a goofy smile as they turned a corner. “I’ll be fiiiine. Besides, we got to pick what we were doing this time, remember? There won’t even be a horror aspect  _ to it _ .”

“I guess…”

“ _ And _ ,” Clint gestured by pointing upwards slightly. “And  _ this time _ , we’ll know it’s a simulation.”

“Not while we’re inside of it,” Tasha reminded him, her eyebrows raised as she stuck her hands in her sweatshirt pockets.

“Okay, fair,” Clint shook his head. “But anyway, this time  _ when we come to _ , we won’t want to kill Fury for somehow kidnapping us and forcing us into those pods.”

“Yeah, how  _ did _ you do that again, Nick?” Tony asked, continuing Clint’s thought as they walked into the room.

“That information is on a ‘need-to-know’ basis only,” Fury told them, gesturing to the pods. “And now that everyone’s  _ here _ , we can get started.”

“You guys are late,” Steve pointed out to Tasha and Clint with a sly smirk.

“Alright,” Fury began, holding a clipboard and looking it over. “This will be a training exercise to see what you’ll be willing to do when faced with difficult situations. The simulation will take you back in time to the Civil War era in America’s history. Each of you will be randomly assigned a rank in either the Confederate or Union army. You will have no control which team you’re on, you will have no control which rank you are given. All you need to do is fight until the battle is won. The battle you will be fighting in is the Battle of Gettysburg. This battle lasted 3 days, so try not to die on the first day; I don’t want to listen to anyone complaining about how bored they are for three days.”

“Okay, but isn’t this unfair?” Tony crossed his arms, a scowl on his face. “That battle was won by the Union, so whoever’s on the Confederate side is obviously going to lose.”

“The  _ history _ of the battle won’t determine the outcome of the winner in the simulation. So it’s anyone’s battle to win,” Fury told him, raising his eyebrow. “Anyone else have any questions?”

“This one won’t be scary, will it?” Bruce asked almost timidly.

“No.”

“Will we have our weapons with us in battle?”

“In this simulation, it was decided that everyone will be equally matched,” Fury looked between everyone standing around him. “So that means no powers, no hulk, no special weapons, no  _ tech _ …”

“Wait,” Steve piped in nervously. “What about--”

“We’re not going to revert you back to what you were before the serum,” Fury assured him. “But you will be taken down to the strength and speed of the average man.”

“Okay, good,” Steve nodded, clearly relieved.

“If there are no other questions, everyone find their pod,” Fury nodded to the pods and waited for everyone to lay in their pods. “Going in simulation in 3…” The lids to the pods shut and sealed. “2… 1.  _ Good luck. _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided there will be a sequel to this story! (Totally didn't decide the theme because of the film coming out, I swear)  
> It isn't named yet, but I'm going to be starting on the first chapter very soon. So if you liked this story, be sure to follow me and stay tuned for it!  
> Thank you all so much for reading, and I wish you all the best :) -E


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